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baseball Edit

Recap: Gamecocks beat Penn State, 7-1

Clarke Schmidt
Clarke Schmidt

South Carolina faced Penn State Friday afternoon in Game 1 of a three-game series at Founders Park. Here is a recap of what happened:

LINESCORE

PSU: 000 000 001 = 1-2-2

USC: 130 003 00x = 7-14-1

WP – Clarke Schmidt (2-0)

LP – Taylor Lehman (0-2)

SV – None

HR – USC, John Jones (1st, none on); Penn State, Jim Haley (9th, none on).

HIGHLIGHTS:

-- Gamecock starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt limited Penn State to one hit and no runs while striking out eight and walking one over a career-long 7.0 innings. He tied his career high for strikeouts. Colie Bowers pitched the final two innings and all six outs he recorded came by strikeout. Bowers fanned six of the seven batters he faced.

-- DH John Jones continued his start to the 2016 campaign at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a homer, four RBI and a walk. He reached base all five times he came to the plate. Dom Thompson-Williams and Marcus Mooney added two hits apiece. Nine different Gamecocks had at least one hit.

-- USC jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Jones stayed hot at the plate (.421 avg. coming in) by hammering a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall for a solo homer, his second round-tripper of the season.

-- The Gamecocks added three more runs in the bottom of the second. The first run scored on a walk to Tolbert, wild pitch and RBI double by catcher Chris Cullen to left. Moments later, Cullen scored when Marcus Mooney’s bunt single turned into a throwing error by the Penn State second baseman. Mooney scored on Jones’ RBI single to center.

-- Neither team scored again until the bottom of the sixth when the Gamecocks padded their lead by scoring (0 runs. Penn State recorded its first hit off Schmidt in the top of the fifth on a 1-out single. The Gamecocks left the bases loaded in the bottom of the third.

-- The first four Gamecock batters in the bottom of the sixth singled, singled, doubled and singled to produce three runs, including a RBI double by Dom Thompson-Williams and 2-run bloop single by the white hot Jones. Bride was hit by a pitch for the seventh time this season. The inning ended when Chris Cullen attempted to score on a pitch that skipped away from the PSU catcher. But he was tagged out by the Nittany Lion pitcher at home plate.

-- Penn State ruined the shutout bid and scored its only run on a solo homer to left with two outs in the top of the ninth by Jim Haley

HOW THE RUNS SCORED:

USC 1st – Hopkins struckout, Thompson-Williams fouled out to left, Jones homered to left (RBI), Bride walked, Destino grounded to second. ONE RUN, ONE HIT (USC 1-0).

USC 2nd – Tolbert walked, Tolbert advanced to second on wild pitch, Cullen doubled to left (RBI), Mooney singled to second (bunt) and Cullen scored on throwing error (E4), Scolamiero flied to right, Hopkins popped to second, Thompson-Williams singled to center, Jones singled to center (RBI0, Bride fouled out to first. THREE RUNS, FOUR HITS (USC 4-0).

USC 6th – Scolamiero singled (bunt), Hopkins singled to left, Thompson-Williams doubled to right (RBI), Jones singled to right-center (2 RBI), Bride hit by pitch, Destino grounded into fielder’s choice (U-5), Tolbert grounded to second, Cullen thrown out at home (2-1). THREE RUNS, FOUR HITS (USC 7-0).

PSU 9th – Hughes struckout, Guers struckout, Haley homered to left, Riotto struckout. ONE RUN, ONE HIT. GAME OVER (USC 7-1).

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