SEC Tournament: Schmidt wanted the ball and got it
Before Chad Holbrook announced right-hander Clarke Schmidt (9-2, 2.72 ERA, 96.0 IP) would start the Gamecocks’ opening game in the SEC Tournament against Ole Miss, the sophomore pleaded for the baseball.
“I’m ready to go,” Schmidt told the media on Monday prior to the team’s departure for Hoover, Ala. “I’m always ready to go. If they’re going to go with me, they’ll go with me.
Schmidt will be pitching on five days’ rest of the second straight week. Last week at Alabama, Schmidt started well but struggled the second time through the Crimson Tide lineup and was lifted after allowing four runs and six hits in 4.2 innings, one of his shortest outings of the season.
“This will be back-to-back starts where I’ve been moved up a day, so it’s going to be tough,” Schmidt said. “But that’s what you have to do when you get ready for the post-season.”
Does moving up a start one-day matter that much to a pitcher?
“It does,” Schmidt said. “I wouldn’t say a whole lot, but when you start moving up two or three days, that’d when things start getting iffy. Moving up one day will not kill you. I’m still doing everything I need to prepare and get ready. I still rehab and getting iced and massaged as much as I can.”
Schmidt was 2-2 with a 4.81 ERA in 58.0 IP (18 appearances, 10 starts) in 2015, but emerged as one of the SEC’s top pitchers this season.
“We’re playing with a chip on our shoulder from last season and trying to make a statement every time we go out there,” Schmidt said. “Our expectations for the SEC Tournament are just as high as anybody else. The SEC Tournament is stacked with talent, but we’re going to try to win it just like everybody else.”
SEC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (Tuesday and Wednesday)
Tuesday, May 24 (Single Elimination)
Game 1: Vanderbilt 7, Missouri 0 (Mizzou eliminated)
Game 2: Ole Miss 5, Georgia 1 (UGA eliminated)
Game 3: Alabama 5, Kentucky 2 (UK eliminated)
Game 4: LSU 5, Tennessee 4 (Tenn eliminated)
Wednesday, May 25 (Double Elimination Begins)
Game 5: Vanderbilt 6, Texas A&M 5
Game 6: Ole Miss 10, USC 4
Game 7: Mississippi State 4, Alabama 1
Game 8: LSU 5, Florida 3
(All Times Eastern)
