Strong Schmidt outing leads Garnet to scrimmage victory
With only one week left until opening day, the Gamecock baseball team was back on the diamond for a spring scrimmage to try to put together a solid lineup for the season-opener against Albany.
In Friday’s scrimmage, the Garnet team was stacked with potential starters, something head coach Chad Holbrook hinted at doing last weekend. Seniors Marcus Mooney and DC Arendas were in their typical middle infield spots, Alex Destino and Jonah Bride on the corners while Dom Thompson-Williams, Danny Blair and Clark Scolamiero were in the outfield.
Clarke Schmidt took to the bump for the Garnet team, and the sophomore righty did not disappoint.
He pitched a perfect game through five innings, striking out seven batters. His only two hits came in the sixth inning, when he would leave with two outs left after giving up a run.
It was the longest Schmidt has pitched in three starts this spring, and his outing propelled the Garnet team to a 7-3 victory.
Schmidt’s day started off a little shaky: he had a couple off-target pitches that got behind catcher Hunter Taylor, but after that he was steady, mowing down batter after batter.
Jared Williams broke up his perfect game in the sixth with a leadoff single. Williams, who has had a relatively quiet spring, finished with two hits including a double and one RBI.
Alex Destino continued to swing a hot bat, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Braden Webb, who is considered a weekend starter by Holbrook, had some control issues in just three innings pitched. He was all over the place during some at-bats, walking four batters.
Aside from Webb, the Gamecock pitchers were very solid.
Colton Provey, who replaced Webb, showed signs of a quality middle reliever. He allowed three hits in four innings pitched. His only mistake was a wild pitch that allowed a runner to score.
Brandon Murray came in for Schmidt and allowed only one hit, a solo shot by Matt Williams.
Over half of the game’s runs were scored on either sacrifice flies or fielder’s choices. While the teams combined for over 15 hits, pitching was able to limit the amount of runs throughout the game.
It’s a good sign for the Gamecocks, who struggled to get batters out and end innings last season.
The team will finish up its final weekend of scrimmages Saturday at 1 p.m. at Founders Park. The scrimmage is open to the public.
Starting lineups
Garnet: 1B, Alex Destino; 2B, DC Arendas; 3B, Jonah Bride; SS, Marcus Mooney; LF, Dom Thompson-Williams: CF, Danny Blair; RF, Clark Scolamiero; C, Hunter Taylor; P, Clarke Schmidt
Black: 1B, Ross Grosvenor; 2B, Jared Williams; 3B, Matt Williams; SS, LT Tolbert; LF, Brandon McIlwain; CF, Gene Cone; RF, TJ Hopkins; C, Chris Cullen; P, Braden Webb
Scoring
B2: Hunter Taylor grounded into a fielder’s choice, Alex Destino scored, 1-0 Garnet.
B3: Alex Destino hit a sacrifice fly, Marcus Mooney scored, 2-0 Garnet; Jonah Bride singled to right, Dom Thompson-Williams scored, 3-0.
B4: Colton Provey’s wild pitch allows LT Tolbert to score, 4-0 Garnet.
T6: Gene Cone grounded into a fielder’s choice, Jared Williams scored, 4-1 Garnet team.
T7: Matt Williams golfed a solo home run into deep right field, 4-2 Garnet team.
B8: Jonah Bride hits a sac fly to score Dom-Thompson Williams, 5-2 Garnet team.
B9: LT Tolbert throwing error allows DC Arendas to score from third, 6-2 Garnet team; Danny Blair singled to left field, Hunter Taylor scored, 7-2 Garnet team.
T10: Jared Williams doubled to right, Matt Williams scored, 7-3 Garnet; Caleb Whitenton singled up the middle, Ross Grosvenor scored, 7-4; Weber Pike grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, Jared Williams scored, 7-5.
Pitchers
Clarke Schmidt: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 7 K, 0 BB
Braden Webb: 3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 K, 4 BB
Colton Provey: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 R, 2 K, 1 BB
Brandon Murray: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 1 BB
Harrison Smith: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 0 K, 1 BB
Josh Reagan: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 K, 0 BB
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