Clarke Schmidt complete game lifts USC past Georgia in opener

South Carolina bounced back from its worst loss since 2007 to defeat Georgia 3-1 Friday night.

Two days after losing 15-0 to North Carolina, the fifth-ranked Gamecocks earned a win over the Bulldogs to improve to 29-6 (11-2 SEC) and maintain their two-game lead in the conference.

Carolina ace Clarke Schmidt was masterful, striking out 10 batters in a complete-game effort and holding Georgia to five hits. The only run came on a solo home run to right in the fourth inning.

“The difference in the game was Clarke Schmidt and the way that we played defense behind him,” Carolina coach Chad Holbrook said. “He was an All-American tonight, and in my view he’s been an All-American all year long. That was special tonight.”

USC took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a two-out, two-strike RBI single to center off the bat of Georgia native Chris Cullen. The Gamecocks scored a run in each of the next two innings as Alex Destino hit a sac fly in the third and Cullen scored on an error in the fourth.

“It’s good to come back home and play against these guys you grew up playing with,” Cullen said. “It was huge for us. I feel like we maybe didn’t play with as much fire Wednesday, but we came out here right out of the gate and set the tone for the weekend.”

Carolina had a chance to break the game open in the third and fourth, but left the bases loaded. USC had the bases loaded in the top of the ninth with one out, but Jonah Bride grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Schmidt didn’t walk a batter, a game after USC issued 10 free passes against the Tar Heels. He retired the Bulldogs in order in the second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

Schmidt retired 14 straight batters after allowing back-to-back hits with two outs in the fourth inning before an infield single in the ninth ended the streak.

USC finished with five hits, led by Gene Cone, who went 2-for-4 with a walk to extend his hitting streak to 21 games.

The Gamecocks were aided by four Georgia errors.

THREE POINTS

Star of the game: Schmidt: The sophomore pitched his second complete game in the past three outings and improved to 8-1 on the year.

Play of the game: Schmidt was aided by solid defense all night, but the best play came in the seventh inning when Cone made a leaping grab at the wall in right on a ball hit by Trevor Kieboom that would have resulted in extra bases.

Stat of the game: 0: Schmidt did not walk a batter two days after USC’s staff walked 10 in a blowout loss to UNC. Of the 10 Tar Heels that reached on a walk, eight of them scored.

OBSERVATIONS

Schmidt trusted his defense: Even though he struck out 10, Schmidt was in the strike zone all night and pitched to contact.

John Jones continues to scuffle: The guy who carried USC’s offense early on in the year went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts.

Missed opportunities: South Carolina finished 3-for-18 with runners on base and left the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings. USC loaded the bases again in the top of the ninth before Jonah Bride grounded into an inning-ending double play.

NEXT

What: South Carolina at Georgia

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Foley Field (Athens, Ga.)

Probable pitchers: USC – Braden Webb (Fr. RHP); UGA – Connor Jones (Jr. LHP)

Watch: No TV and no streaming

Radio: 107.5 FM

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 9:57 PM with the headline "Clarke Schmidt complete game lifts USC past Georgia in opener."