March 8, 2015
| SCORE BY INNINGS | ||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Miami (Ohio) (2-8) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| South Carolina (12-3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | X | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| VIDEO COVERAGE | |||||
| Highlights | |||||
| Coach Holbrook | |||||
| Vince Fiori | |||||
| Jordan Gore | |||||
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Fifth-ranked South Carolina rallied from a two-run deficit and did not allow an earned run on the way to a 5-3 victory over Miami (Ohio) to sweep the series. The Gamecocks improve to 12-3 on the year while the loss drops the RedHawks to 2-8.
Miami struck first pushing across a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. Back-to-back two-out singles from Romano and Sada followed by a wild pitch on a strikeout loaded the bases. A misplayed grounder by Gamecock second baseman Max Schrock and another wild pitch gave Miami the 2-0 advantage.
South Carolina responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. After a one-out double off the bat of Madison Stokes, three consecutive walks scored Stokes and Jordan Gore and Gene Cone was then able to score on a wild pitch.
The Gamecocks added to their lead in the seventh pushing across two more runs. After leadoff single from Gore and a walk to Cone, Elliott Caldwell bunted for a base hit to load the bases. A balk charged to RedHawk reliever Ryan Marske advanced the runners, allowing Cone to score. A sacrifice fly form Kyle Martin brought home Caldwell for the Gamecocks’ final run.
In the eighth inning Miami cut South Carolina’s lead to 5-3 on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jacob Wolf that scored Matt Honchel.
Vince Fiori earned the win in relief is now 2-0 on the season. The junior left-hander worked 3.1 innings allowing one run on one hit and one walk while striking out four batters. Freshman starter Clarke Schmidt pitched 4.2 innings giving up two runs on two hits and two walks and struck out four batters. Sophomore right-hander Taylor Widener closed out the game with a perfect ninth inning for his fifth save of the year.
GAME CHANGER
Gamecocks answered Miami’s two runs with three runs in the bottom half of the fifth.
KEY STAT Clarke Schmidt, Vince Fiori and Taylor Widener combined to limit Miami to just three hits and two runs, both unearned. The Gamecocks did not allow an earned run the entire weekend vs. the RedHawks.
NOTABLES
- Clarke Schmidt made his first career start and recorded a career-high four strikeouts.
- Madison Stokes’ double in the fifth inning is the first of his career.
QUOTABLE South Carolina Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement
I think we were able to win all three games because of the way our pitchers threw. Clarke (Schmidt) got us off to a good start today, Vince (Fiori) was pretty clean and Taylor (Widener) showed what kind of arm he has at the end of the game. I’m not at all happy with how we’re swinging the bat right now offensively. We have good hitters in our dugout and we have good hitters on our team, but right now we’re just in a bit of a funk. We’re going to work hard this week to get out of it. We had to play some guys because we’ve got some guys banged up. Marcus (Mooney) tweaked his hamstring yesterday and DC’s (Arendas) thumb is very sore; it’s been a lingering issue with him, so that kind of affected the line-up today. We didn’t play great defense, but we pitched our rear-ends off and that was good enough to win. I’m not going to complain too much, we won three games this weekend against a solid club, but we have to do better. We’ll work hard this week to try to get on the right path.
UP NEXT
The Gamecocks host Penn State in two-game series beginning Tuesday with first pitch set for 7 p.m. at Carolina Stadium. The game will broadcast on SEC Network + and can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
