Notes and Quotes: Missouri Game 1
Notes
--Dom Thompson-Williams hit second in the lineup for just the sixth time Friday. It was the first time he’s hit that high since Feb. 26 against Penn State.
--Gene Cone doubled in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 25 games. That ties the South Carolina’s single-season record and is one game shy of tying Whit Merrifield’s school record, which was set over the course of two seasons. Holbrook joked he was nervous he affected the streak when he forced Cone to shave his beard for the team photo. It didn’t and Cone is 4-for-8 since then.
--Cone finished with three hits, tying a career-high for hits in a game. Since SEC play started Gene Cone’s batting .403 (25-for-62) with seven RBI and 21 runs scored.
--Other hitting streaks continued Friday: Jonah Bride, Alex Destino and John Jones (3) and Dom Thompson-Williams (2).
--Paid attendance Friday was 6,721.
--After a 1-for-14 week last week, John Jones is 4-for-10 with two RBI this week. He went 2-for-5 Friday with an RBI.
--Tyler Johnson earned his third save of the season. He came in for Reed Scott in the sixth inning and ended allowing one hit, a solo home run in the ninth. He finished with four strikeouts, including one where he hit 97 miles per hour on the scoreboard. Holbrook said if it read 97 there, it could very well have been 99 miles per hour.
--South Carolina didn’t have to bat in the ninth inning. It’s the 23rd time in 24 games they haven’t had to go to bat in the ninth. The only time they did was against College of Charleston where they lost 6-5 in 13 innings.
--Clarke Schmidt went 5.2 innings Friday, his shortest outing of the season. He allowed four earned runs on nine hits, both of which tie season-highs for the sophomore. He also struck out five.
--The top three hitters in the order (Cone, Thompson-Williams and Jones) were a combined 6-for-14 (.428) with a walk. They drove in five of the team’s eight runs and scored twice.
--Clarke Schmidt increased his innings pitched to 70.2 innings, which leads the team. He also has a team-high 85 strikeouts.
--John Jones increased his team-high RBI total to 38 with an RBI single in the third.
Quotes
Gene Cone on his hitting streak: “I wouldn’t say it means much to me as long as we’re winning…That being said, it’s pretty neat. I don’t go up there and if I get out I’m not mad. I try not to worry about it.”
John Jones on getting out of his slump: “I thought about what I was doing to be successful. I don’t really change much. The only thing I did wrong was be too hard on myself. I expect a lot of myself and when I don’t do that, that’s when it starts to compound. I just got back to being relaxed and the player I am.”
John Jones on Gene Cone: “I just love him as a baseball player. I tell him everyday and he thinks I’m kidding. I love everything he does at the plate.”
John Jones on the team’s confidence: “I don’t we ever lost our confidence, I just say we weren’t clicking as hard as we were. You do so well at the beginning of the season; anytime youre not putting up those kind of numbers you may look like that with confidence. But I never felt like our team was down on ourselves…It was good to see the results there again.”
Tyler Johnson on his teammates’ confidence in him: “The team really made it clear that they had confidence in Josh (Reagan) and myself, even our whole bullpen.”
Holbrook on Clarke Schmidt’s rougher start: “We can’t expect Clarke Schmidt to be perfect every time out. That’s not fair. I looked up there and I don’t think he’s throwing poorly and he’s given up three runs and we’re in the sixth inning. In the big league’s we’d call that a quality start. He battled and kept us in the game.”
Holbrook on John Jones: “He’s fine. I never really worry about him. I told him the other day he could go 0-for-27 with 23 strikeouts and he’d still probably hit in the three hole. I’m not moving him. I have that much confidence in him.”
Holbrook on Gene Cone: “I’m proud of Gene. He’s competing every single pitch. He doesn’t give a pitch away. And when he does swing at a pitch he may not should have swung at, he tries to learn from it. He’s really, really on top of his game.”
Holbrook