Notes & Quotes: Ole Miss Game 1
OXFORD, Miss. - The best notes and quotes from South Carolina's 5-1 series-opening victory over Ole Miss Thursday.
Notes
-- All nine Gamecock starters tallied at least one hit.
-- Alex Destino's first inning single extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
-- Dom Thompson-Williams has reached base safely in all 23 games this year. His fifth inning single also extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
-- Gene Cone's 2nd inning homer was just his third career homer as a Gamecocks. Cone's last homer came on April 12, 2015 at Florida.
-- The Gamecocks are now 15-0 on the year when hitting at least one home run and 18-0 when scoring first.
-- Ole Miss' Henri Lartigue went 4-for-4 for a career high in hits.
-- Carolina's lineup put together 13 hits at the plate as well as seven walks while Schmidt and Reagan allowed 11 hits but just one walk. All 11 hits for Ole Miss were singles while the Gamecocks had four doubles and a homer for five extra base hits.
-- Winning pitcher Clarke Schmidt, who improved to 6-0 on the season, took a come-backer off his foot, but said after the game that he was fine.
-- South Carolina pitcher Taylor Widener did not make the trip due to a small muscle strain in his back, but it's not likely to keep him out for long. Chad Holbrook said that Widener likely would have been available by Saturday, but the staff could elect to start him Tuesday against College of Charleston.
-- Thursday's attendance was announced as 8,167.
*** Also see: Game 1 box score
Notes provided by USC Media Relations
Quotes
Holbrook on Schmidt... "Clarke has some toughness about him. His stuff goes up a notch, both velocity wise and stuff wise, when they get runners on. He’s just a great competitor. He bowed his neck in some big situations and had to make big pitches to the middle of their lineup. It wasn’t the best Clarke Schmidt has ever thrown, but he got by with guts, toughness and he has a good arm, too.
Schmidt on what was working for him... "With a team like this, their approach is ridiculous. They know how to hunt a fastball. They're really good at finding the fastball throughout the count. I wanted to work ahead with my slider and mix things up a bit. I think I did a good job of that. The biggest thing I did tonight was get that fastball in to lefties and righties. I feel like I did that really well. That’s what got me the most success."
Schmidt on his team getting early runs... "It's big. When you have your team putting up runs for you, it always gives you a cushion. It gives you a little bit of comfortability up there, especially for road starts for me. Last year, I didn't have as much success as I wanted to on the road and I wanted to make a statement this year on the road. I wanted to say, I'm just as good on the road as I am at home, if not better. I wanted to come out her and compete and not let this atmosphere get a hold of me, because an atmosphere like this can really get to you."
Cone on the early runs... "Putting runs on the board early helps us and helps Schmidt a lot. It kind of takes the pressure off him a little bit and obviously it did, he kind of cruised on through."
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