Gamecocks' bats silenced as Texas A&M takes series opener
Well, it WAS Friday the 13th.
Gremlins kept a firm grasp on South Carolina’s bats Friday night as the Gamecocks were unable to take advantage of some early scoring opportunities in a 3-0 loss to Texas A&M in the first of a key three-game SEC series in front of 7,702 fans at Founders Park.
USC fell to 37-12 overall, 16-8 in the SEC, and dropped into second place in the SEC East by virtue of Florida’s 4-2 victory over Vanderbilt in Gainesville. The Gators are 17-7, one game ahead of the Gamecocks.
Game 2 of the series is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The contest will be televised by the SEC Network.
Texas A&M pitchers Brigham Hill (6.0 IP) and reliever Mark Ecker (0.33 ERA coming in) combined for 12 strikeouts and held the Gamecocks without a hit after the fourth inning.
“The two pitchers Texas A&M put out there- Hill and Ecker - were the story of the game,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “They overpowered our guys. We struck out 12 times and couldn’t push a run across. That’s not the recipe to beat those guys, that’s for sure.”
Dating back to the eighth inning of the rubber game at Kentucky, the Gamecocks have scored just three runs in the last 22 innings.
The Gamecocks made solid contact on a couple of occasions in the early innings, but the ball found the glove of a Texas A&M fielder.
“Runs came easy for us in the early to middle of the year when things were going great,” Holbrook said. “Now runs aren’t coming as easy. Our guys are a little frustrated. But that happens in this sport. You have to come back to the park and strap it on a little bit tighter and go back to works and compete harder. It’s not just going to happen for you. You have to compete and battle and try to make something happen out there. It’s not going to just fall into your lap. Not against the teams we play.”
The Gamecocks stranded eight runners, going 2-for-17 (.118) with runners on base and 1-for-10 (.100) with runners in scoring position.
“Our approach with two strikes wasn’t competitive enough,” Holbrook said. “You have to tip your cap to their pitchers. Ecker’s numbers are incredible and I see why. But we could have done a better job competing with two strikes, fouling some pitches off and not taking so many fastballs in with two strikes. We had too many of those. Our swings were too big with two strikes. Our hitters are not as bad as they looked tonight. Their pitchers were that good.”
Friday night’s offensive struggles wasted a solid pitching performance by Clarke Schmidt, who held the Aggie hitless until the fourth and departed with two outs in the top of the eighth after allowing just five hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
“Clarke kept us in the game and did pretty darn well against a really good offensive team and gave us a chance,” Holbrook said. “But we couldn’t do anything to help him out. We couldn’t do enough offensively and that was the story of the game. Their pitchers were better than our hitters.”
The Gamecocks threatened to score in each of the first two innings, but couldn’t find the key hit. A walk and two-out double by Dom Thompson-Williams put a pair of runners into scoring position in the bottom of the first, but a strikeout ended the inning.
In the bottom of the second, Madison Stokes singled and stole second before trying to score on Marcus Mooney’s two-out single to right. He was easily thrown out at the plate for the third out.
When Gene Cone led off the bottom of the third with an infield single and stole second with two outs, the Gamecocks had put a runner in scoring position in each of the first three innings without plating a run.
Texas A&M registered its first hit of the game off Schmidt in the top of the fourth on a leadoff single. The Aggies' six hits matched their second lowest single game total of the season.
The Aggies came into the game owning a SEC-leading .320 team batting average, and had averaged 11.3 hits per game. Boomer White, the SEC’s leading hitter, was held without a hit (0-5). The top four Aggie hitters in the order went a combined 2-for-18.
Yet, keeping Texas A&M's best hitters underwraps was not enough.
The Gamecocks put another runner into scoring position in the bottom of the fourth on a single and wild pitch, but again were left wanting. Through four innings, USC stranded five runners.
For the most part, Gamecocks hitters were silenced the remainder of the game, managing only two walks, a hit batter and error by the Aggies shortstop over the final five at-bats.
The contest remained scoreless until the Aggies finally broke through on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh on a single, hit by pitch, bunt single, forceout at home (1-2) and a fielder’s choice grounder to second (4-6) in which the Gamecocks failed to turn an inning-ending double play. The runner from third crossed home plate to give TAM a 1-0 lead.
When the Gamecocks got the leadoff batter on base in the bottom of the seventh (Cullen was hit by pitch), the Aggies brought in reliever Mark Ecker, who had a 0.33 ERA with 31 strikeouts in 27.2 IP this season.
Ecker dominated the Gamecocks hitters over the final three innings, retiring nine of the 10 USC batters he faced with six strikeouts.
Schmidt worked around a leadoff double in top of the 8th with a groundout to third (runner held) and strikeout for the first two outs. After issuing an intentional walk, Schmidt departed to a loud ovation.
However, reliever Tyler Johnson was ineffective for one of the few times this season as he gave up a line drive RBI single to left and issued consecutive walks to force home a run.
Reed Scott took the mound to get the final out on a popup, but the damage was done and TAM carried a 3-0 lead to the bottom of the eighth.
“Tyler has been very good for us, but he didn’t have it tonight,” Holbrook said. “I thought we could get a fresh Tyler Johnson out there throwing in the mid to upper 90s and it would be a good matchup for us. But Tyler wasn’t comfortable tonight. It happens in this game. We can’t expect our kids to be perfect.”
The Gamecocks went quietly in the bottom of the eighth off Ecker before Bride became the first Gamecock batter to reach base against him when he drew a walk to open the bottom of the ninth.
However, a strikeout, groundout to second and another strikeout meant USC was blanked for the fourth time this season.
“It was a tough night for us and we’ll try to bounce back tomorrow,” Holbrook said. “Tyler struggled a little bit tonight. Clarke and Reed were really good. But you have to score runs to win.”
LINESCORE
TAM (38-10) – 000 000 120 = 3-6-1
USC (37-12) – 000 000 000 = 0-5-2
WP – Brigham Hill (6-1)
LP – Clarke Schmidt (9-2)
SV – Mark Ecker (4)
HR – None
RBI – None
LOB – USC 8, TAM 9
A – 7,702
Time – 2:56
Gamecock Pitchers: Clarke Schmidt (7.2, 97 pitches), Tyler Johnson (0.0 IP, 22 pitches), Reed Scott (1.1 IP, 18 pitches).
HOW THE RUNS SCORED:
TAM 7th – Birk singled to left, Barash hit by pitch, Banks singled to pitcher (bunt), Davis reached on fielder's choice and runner out on forceout at home, Homan reached on a fielder's choice (4-6)(run scored)(RBI), Moss popped to pitcher. 1 Run, 2 Hits (TAM 1-0).
TAM 8th – Choruby doubled to left-center, White grounded to third, Melton struck out, Choruby advanced to third on passed ball, Birk intentionally walked, <Johnson for for Schmidt>, Barash singled to left (RBI), Barash advanced to second and Birk advanced to third on wild pitch, Banks walked, Moroney walked (RBI), <Scott for Johnson>, Homan popped to first. 2 RUNS, 2 HITS (TAM 3-0)
