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Notes and Quotes: USC-Vanderbilt Game 1

John JOnes was 2-for-4 Thursday night with a run scored
John JOnes was 2-for-4 Thursday night with a run scored (Chris Gillespie, Gamecock Central)

*** Also see: Box score, game story

NASHVILLE – Notes and quotes from Thursday night’s 6-3 loss by South Carolina to Vanderbilt at Hawkins Stadium.

NOTES

-- The six hits mustered by the Gamecocks against Vanderbilt pitchers Jordan Sheffield and Ben Bowden were the fewest since March 13 when they also collected six hits in the series finale vs. Charleston Southern.

-- USC starter Clarke Schmidt threw 107 pitches, 70 for strikes, as he hurled his first career complete game. He fanned nine Vanderbilt batters, giving him 28 strikeouts in three SEC starts, an average of 9.1 strikeouts per league start.

-- By adding 9 strikeouts and 1 walk to his tally on Thursday, Schmidt’s strikeout-to-walk ratio is an impressive 60-to-7 in 50.0 innings. He has allowed 39 hits and 12 runs.

-- The Gamecocks stranded six runners on base.

-- USC struck out 12 times with seven ending an inning.

-- Alex Destino singled to open the eighth inning, extending his hitting streak to 19 games. A Gene Cone base hit in the seventh extended his hitting streak to a career-long 13 games. Cone also walked twice as he reached base three times.

-- John Jones was 2-for-4 and now has 13 multi-hit games this season. He made his eighth start of the season at catcher.

-- Marcus Mooney drove in the first of two Gamecock runs in the seventh inning with his first sacrifice fly of the season.

-- Madison Stokes, sidelined with an injury, made his first appearance of the 2016 season Thursday night when he pinch-hit in the ninth inning.

QUOTES:

Chad Holbrook on why he started John Jones at catcher instead of Chris Cullen: “When I catch Jones, I play T.J. (Hopkins). That has been standard for the past two or three weeks. It was the same lineup we used Sunday at Ole Miss and a couple of other times. Chris struggled a little bit the other night, but that’s not why I started Jones. I felt good about T.J. I’ve watched his BP. His heart and soul is in every pitch. He is going to be a good player for us, as is Cullen. I’m going to try to mix and match the best I can with those two guys.”

Holbrook on USC’s catching situation/lineup changes: “We have three good catchers. I hate that I haven’t been able to play (Hunter) Taylor a little bit more. We’ll have subtle changes (to the lineup) just about every time we play. But the majority of the time, seven or eight guys will be in there every night.”

Holbrook on Clarke Schmidt: “He was very efficient and he threw strikes. He changed speeds. You have to change speeds against those guys and you have to pitch in. After the first inning he did that great. When he was behind he still threw his changeup. It was a very impressive performance from inning two through eight. I hate it that an outing like that didn’t result in a win for us.”

Holbrook on Madison Stokes after the sophomore made his season debut Thursday night: “I’m planning on getting him involved. I had a conversation with him today. We need his physicality and we need his bat speed. He makes a difference for us offensively when he is going well. I have to get him up to speed. He has been out for a while, so he is trying to catchup. I wanted him to see a lefty and get his feet wet. The time is getting closer when I will involve him a lot. Will it be this weekend? I don’t know. A middle of the week game for sure.”

Clarke Schmidt on allowing four extra base hits to Vanderbilt, two of which produced RBI: “The extra base hits got me a little bit. They had some timely hitting. You have to tip your cap to them. . .Everybody in this league is as talented as the next person, so they could definitely swing it and they had great approaches with some timely hitting.”

John Jones on Vanderbilt starter Jordan Sheffield: “Obviously, he has plus stuff. A lot of us saw him well, but he gutted up some pitches when he needed to. My third at-bat when he struck me out was 95 (pph) on the hands with twos trikes. That’s a hard pitch to hit. You have tip you cap when he throws pitches like that.”

Jones on his early success against Sheffield when he had a single and double: “I was hitting him early in the count. He left a fastball over the plate during my first at-bat and I was just able to stay with it. Then he threw a change-up that was up (in his second AB) that I was able to jump on. Both were good pitches, but I ran into them. He won the final two.”

Jones on starting at catcher: “It was nice to get back there for a Thursday night game and catch Clarke. I hadn’t caught him since opening day. I wasn’t surprised (I started at catcher) because I go into every game with the mindset I’m going to catch until I’m told I’m not because I don’t want to be caught off guard.”

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