USC rotation anxious to show not just Florida’s staff is elite

South Carolina will face three projected first-round picks in Florida’s starting rotation this weekend in Logan Shore, A.J. Puk and Alex Faedo, but USC ace Clarke Schmidt said the Gamecocks’ staff is anxious to show that it is pretty good as well.

Schmidt, Braden Webb and Adam Hill, USC’s three starting pitchers, are excited for a chance to prove that just because they are not ranked as high on draft boards does not mean they can’t compete.

“That puts a little chip on our shoulders. I talked to Adam and Braden and that’s fine with us,” Schmidt said of the attention Florida’s staff receives. “If you wanna overlook us that’s fine. We’ve put up some good numbers, and we’re ready to go after them.”

Schmidt, Webb, Shore and Faedo are tied for the SEC lead in wins with eight.

Schmidt leads the conference in strikeouts and in innings pitched and is fourth in ERA at 2.04.

All six starting pitchers this weekend have an ERA under 3.50 with Webb at 3.28, Hill at 2.57, Shore at 2.14, Puk at 3.07 and Faedo at 3.32.

“We want to prove ourselves just as much as they want to prove themselves,” Schmidt said. “It’s going to be an exciting weekend, and we think that we can compete with the best of them so we’re ready for it.”

Schmidt added that competing in a top 10 matchup, especially at home, has him fired up for this weekend.

“I love big games. I love pitching in front of big crowds,’” he said. “It’s something that we all want to do. A big Friday night game like this, we’re all excited.”

GAMECOCKS CONFIDENT AT HOME

South Carolina is 25-1 at home on the year, including a perfect 9-0 in SEC play, which gives the Gamecocks reason for belief as they get set to host No. 1 Florida this weekend.

“When you’ve performed the way that we have here at Founders Park you would think that it would produce some confidence,” Holbrook said. “It’s certainly a lot more comforting knowing that we’re playing here and not on the road. We certainly tend to play at a very high level here.”

WILL HOPKINS START?

Holbrook is still unsure if freshman TJ Hopkins will be in the starting lineup Friday night in the series opener.

He would prefer to have the outfielder in the lineup, but is weighing his options because he wants to make sure Schmidt is comfortable with the catcher.

Chris Cullen has been the starting catcher for the majority of Schmidt’s starts, but in order to play Hopkins he would have to put John Jones at catcher, DH Alex Destino and put Hopkins in the outfield.

“That pitcher-catcher relationship is also very important to the game of baseball. I have to wrestle with what’s the most important thing, and there are a lot of factors to consider… I’ll probably decide at the last second I have to decide,” Holbrook said. “I’ve got to catch somebody, and I’ve got to play somebody in the outfield. I’ve given it as much thought as I can to make sure that Clarke’s comfortable and that matchups are right and look at the averages and look at the splits.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 9:30 PM with the headline "USC rotation anxious to show not just Florida’s staff is elite."