Offense comes alive in second fall scrimmage
A matchup of two top-level SEC pitchers greeted fans at South Carolina’s second scrimmage Saturday. Wil Crowe, a former freshman All-American, and Clarke Schmidt, third-team All-SEC last season, dueled on the mound.
Even with the pitching prowess on the field, it was the offense that took center stage in an 8-1 win for the Garnet team in six innings.
Schmidt started a little shaky in the first inning, giving up two straight base runners on a fielding error and a Jonah Bride single. He settled down after that, getting Carlos Cortes and Jacob Olson to fly out to left before striking out Alex Destino.
The junior righty was up to 93 miles per hour on his fastball and hit 84 on his slider.
Also see: This weekend's baseball recruiting tidbits
Crowe didn’t start out much better, giving up back-to-back walks to start the first including a four-pitch walk to leadoff man Danny Blair. Then he gave up a three-run shot to Madison Stokes.
It’s Stokes’ second home run in two scrimmages this fall, and he has six RBIs. Both homers were to left field. The end of the first inning was cut short after Crowe walked John Jones.
He would settle down after that, getting a 1-2-3 inning in the second. His curveball was up to 79 miles per hour in the inning.
Brandon Murray came in for Schmidt and would pitch two shutout innings, giving up just one hit. Colie Bowers came in for the Black team.
He would allow one run after Madison Stokes singled and John Jones drove him home when the junior roped a double
Also see: Photos from Saturday's scrimmage
The Black team made a small comeback in the fifth inning when TJ Hopkins hit a leadoff double and freshman Carlos Cortes snuck a double down the line in left to bring him home. It was Cortes’ first hit in college.
Both hits were off freshman Sawyer Bridges, who pitched his first collegiate innings Saturday. Fellow freshman Jonathan Jahn also pitched for the Black team the final two innings.
The Garnet team would answer back in the bottom of the fifth with a Caleb Whitenton golfing a two-run home run into the seats in left field. They would score two more runs in the inning on a throwing error from Hunter Taylor and a groundout from Madison Stokes.
Defensively, it was a revolving door at first base with freshmen Joey Polak and Riley Hogan, redshirt freshman Caleb Whitenton and senior Ross Grosvenor all seeing time there. Carlos Cortes also moved around playing right field and second base. Jacob Olson also played both middle infield positions.
Chase DeMars and Alex Destino also played both right and left field.
The first set of weekend scrimmages concludes Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:30 p.m. No starting pitchers have been announced yet.
Starting lineups
Garnet
1B, Joey Polak; 2B, Stokes; 3B, Matt Williams SS, Christian Flint; LF, Chase DeMars; CF, Danny Blair; RF, Josh Gregory; C, John Jones; SP, Clarke Schmidt
Black
1B, Ross Grosvenor; 2B, Jacob Olson; 3B, Jonah Bride; SS, LT Tolbert; LF, Carlos Cortes; CF, TJ Hopkins; RF, Alex Destino; C, Hunter Taylor; SP, Wil Crowe
Pitching lines
Garnet
Schmidt: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Brandon Murray: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Sawyer Bridges: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (ER), 0 BB, 1K
Black
Wil Crowe: 2 IP, 1 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 0 K
Colie Bowers: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (ER), 0 BB, 0 K
Jonathan Jahn: 2 IP, 2 H, 4 R (4 ER), 3 BB, 1 K
Top offensive performers
Madison Stokes: 2-for-3, HR, 4 RBIs, 2 R; Caleb Whitenton, 1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI; Jonah Bride: 2-for-3, 2B; Carlos Cortes: 1-for-3, 2B, RBI
