Texas A&M holds South Carolina in check, takes opener 3-0

South Carolina ace Clarke Schmidt held Texas A&M’s potent offense in check for much of Friday’s series opener, but the Gamecocks’ offense provided nothing in return in a 3-0 loss to the second-ranked Aggies.

USC managed only five hits, none after the fourth inning, as Carolina went from tied with Florida atop the SEC standings to trailing the Gators and Aggies.

“Clarke kept us in the game and did pretty darn well against a good offensive team and gave us a chance, but we couldn’t do anything to help him out or our pitching staff out,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “We couldn’t do enough offensively… Their pitchers were better than our hitters.”

No. 8 South Carolina (37-12, 16-8) has managed only seven runs total in its past four games. USC went 2-for-17 with runners on base and 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position against Texas A&M, while striking out 12 times.

“With two strikes, it wasn’t competitive enough. We could have done a better job of competing with two strikes,” Holbrook said.

Junior outfielder Dom Thompson-Williams, who went 1-for-4 with a double, agreed with his coach.

“We need to shorten up on strikeouts and put the ball in play,” Thompson-Williams said. “If you put the ball in play things happen, errors happen, runners score.”

Schmidt kept No. 2 Texas A&M off the board until the seventh inning when a single, hit by pitch and infield single loaded the bases with no outs.

He got a bouncer back to the mound for out number one before Austin Homan hit into a fielder’s choice to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. The sophomore escaped without allowing further damage.

In the eighth inning, Schmidt allowed a leadoff double, but bounced back to record two straight outs before a walk put runners on the corners with one out.

USC went to the bullpen and brought in Tyler Johnson, but he allowed a single to Michael Barash to give Texas A&M a 2-0 lead and later walked in a run before leaving the game.

Schmidt had only thrown 97 pitches when USC went to the bullpen, and said he felt good enough to continue.

“I felt like it was my game and I wanted to stay out there,” Schmidt said. “They thought differently, which is fine… I’m not going to disagree with it but I felt really well and I was still throwing hard. I always want to stay out there, but you can’t stay out there all the time.”

The Gamecocks stranded runners on second and third to end the first inning, had a runner on second with no outs in the second and got the leadoff man on five times on the evening, but could not scratch across a run.

“I think we’ve got to hit better with runners in scoring position. That’s what kills us,” Thompson-Williams said. “In baseball, you’ve got to do those little things.”

THREE POINTS

Star of the game: Mark Ecker: The Texas A&M reliever had allowed one earned run in 27 2/3 innings entering Friday night and improved his stats, striking out six batters in three innings without allowing a hit.

Play of the game: The Aggies were clinging to a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning when Michael Barash hit a two-out RBI single to left on a full count. Texas A&M pushed across another run before the inning ended.

Stat of the game: .100: The Gamecocks went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and the only hit led to Madison Stokes being thrown out at home plate to end the second inning.

OBSERVATIONS

Hitters trying to do too much: Several South Carolina batters were swinging for the fences on Friday, especially after the Gamecocks fell behind. As Holbrook said, you can’t hit a three-run homer with no one on base.

Schmidt was special: USC’s ace allowed only five hits in 7 2/3 innings to perhaps the best offense in the country and retired the SEC’s leading hitter, Boomer White, all four times he faced him.

Saturday’s lineup could be much different: Holbrook said there could be several changes in Saturday’s lineup as the Gamecocks continue to struggle offensively. He added that Gene Cone, Alex Destino and Marcus Mooney will for sure play, but after that he doesn’t know.

NEXT

What: South Carolina vs. Texas A&M

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Founders Park

Probable pitchers: USC – Braden Webb (Fr. RHP); A&M – Turner Larkins (So. RHP)

Watch: SEC Network

Radio: 107.5 FM

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 10:05 PM.