College Roundup: Clarke Schmidt, Gamecocks Top Tigers

Three key story lines from around college baseball Friday night.

Strike One: Schmidt Outduels Barnes in Rivalry Opener

CLEMSON, S.C.—On Friday night, South Carolina righthander Clarke Schmidt found himself in the kind of situation pitchers often dread. The air was chilly, the Clemson home crowd was even icier, and—worst of all—Schmidt quickly realized he didn’t have his best stuff. At all.

The Clarke Schmidt of old, maybe even last year’s Clarke Schmidt, might not have been long for that kind of night. He might’ve folded early. But Schmidt, now a junior and one of the top college pitching prospects in the country, didn’t relent.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Texas Christian: won, 9-6, vs. (4) Louisiana State at Shriners Hospitals College Classic

(2) Florida State: won, 18-10, vs. Oakland

(3) Florida: won, 7-0, vs. Columbia

(4) Louisiana State: lost, 9-6, vs (1) Texas Christian at Shriners Hospitals College Classic

(5) South Carolina: won, 2-0, at (15) Clemson

(6) Louisville: won, 13-0, vs. Eastern Michigan

(7) Cal State Fullerton: lost, 7-4, at Houston

(8) Oregon State: PPD vs. UC-Davis

(9) East Carolina: won, 5-4, vs. Western Carolina

(10) North Carolina State: lost, 5-2, vs. Rhode Island

(11) Washington: lost, 7-1, vs. Sacramento State

(12) Virginia: won, 5-3, vs. Niagara

(13) North Carolina: lost, 5-2, vs. Long Beach State

(14) Vanderbilt: lost, 6-4, vs. Cal State Northridge

(15) Clemson: lost, 2-0, vs. (5) South Carolina

(16) Louisiana-Lafayette: won, 3-1, vs. Southern Miss

(17) Georgia Tech: won, 12-3, vs. Belmont

(18) Coastal Carolina: won, 7-5, vs. San Francisco

(19) Arizona: won, 3-0, vs. Arkansas at Frisco Classic

(20) Mississippi: lost, 4-0, vs. Baylor at Shriners Hospitals College Classic

(21) Texas Tech: lost, 9-0, at (25) Texas A&M

(22) Stanford: won, 3-2, vs. Texas

(23) UC Santa Barbara: lost, 2-1, at Kentucky

(24) Oklahoma State: won, 1-0, vs. Nebraska at Frisco Classic

(25) Texas A&M: won, 9-0, vs. (21) Texas Tech

Facing the No. 15 Tigers, Schmidt pitched the No. 5 Gamecocks to a 2-0 victory on the first night of the Reedy River Rivalry. His final line wasn’t particularly pretty: 5.2 innings, four hits, seven walks, five strikeouts. But he managed to dance past the Tigers and keep them off the board, despite their constant presence on the basepaths.

“That was a big win for me, especially just to know that I didn’t have my best stuff and I didn’t have command of any pitches,” Schmidt said on the Doug Kingsmore Stadium field after the win. “To be able to come out with a win is huge. If I can put up that many zeroes without having any stuff at all, it’s big for me. I think that’s the difference between me from last year to this year is I know how to compete when I don’t have my best stuff, and that was kind of indicative of it tonight.”

Schmidt made multiple adjustments throughout the course of the night. He noticed early that he was flying open in his delivery, causing his fastball to leak high and outside, so he worked to get his delivery in sync. Schmidt touched as high as 95 mph in the first inning with his four-seamer, but when he realized he wasn’t commanding it effectively, he switched to his low-90s two-seamer and also incorporated his changeup to coax more ground balls.

The adjustments worked. He held the Tigers in check before giving way to lefthander Josh Reagan and hard-throwing junior closer Tyler Johnson in the final innings.

On the other side, Clemson lefthander Charlie Barnes, No. 82 on the College Top 100, was even tougher to solve. He allowed just three hits and two walks over 7.1 innings, striking out seven and mixing his upper 80s fastball with a tumbling changeup and a breaking ball. However, Barnes was charged with two unearned runs in the sixth when right fielder K.J. Bryant dropped would’ve been the final out of the inning and allowed two Gamecocks to cross home. Those runs proved to be the difference.

“Charlie did a great job,” Clemson coach Monte Lee said. “I don’t know if he could have thrown any better. He threw like a Friday night guy did and is supposed to throw. He did a great job. It’s a little frustrating on my end that we just couldn’t help him more.

With the Gamecocks holding a one-game edge, the series will move to Fluor Field in Greenville on Saturday before wrapping up Sunday in Columbia.

“We feel very fortunate to have won, to be very honest with you,” South Carolina coach Chad Holbrook said. “Honestly, I thought Clemson battled and competed in the batter’s box probably a little better than we did tonight. We just had a couple of breaks go our way, and they kind of had a couple of errors in that inning that we scored two runs, and our pitchers were outstanding. We pitched out of some tough jams, got some big double plays. But all in all, it was a big win. Anytime you come to Clemson and you win, it’s a really, really big win.”

Strike Two: Rhode Island, Cal State Northridge Win Big

Rhode Island surprised many in the college baseball world last postseason when the No. 4-seeded Rams upset host South Carolina in the Columbia Regional to send the stunned Gamecocks to the loser’s bracket. The man on the mound that day was lefthander Tyler Wilson, the team’s ace and top prospect, who battled through a heroic 125-pitch effort to deliver URI a signature win.

Well, he did it again.

Visiting No. 10 North Carolina State in Raleigh, Wilson and the Rams pulled together another upset, defeating the Wolfpack, 5-2. Wilson again factored prominently, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings. Meanwhile, redshirt senior Mike Corin hit his fourth home run of the year, a three-run homer in the sixth, to put the game out of reach. The loss was N.C. State’s second straight after losing to UNC-Charlotte on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Vanderbilt lost its third straight series opener, as Cal State Northridge jumped on Commodores ace Kyle Wright (5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) to deal him his second loss of the season.

The Matadors did most of their damage in the fifth, rallying for three runs and taking advantage of a Vanderbilt error to build a lead they would not relinquish in a 6-4 win. Catcher Albee Weiss homered and hit an RBI double to pace the Cal State Northridge offense. The Matadors moved to 5-4 on the season, while Vanderbilt fell to 6-4.

A bright spot for the Commodores: junior third baseman Will Toffey hit a two-run homer in the first, his first homer since his freshman year in 2015. Toffey is batting .293/.380/.390 to start the season as he looks to regain his first-year form.

Strike Three: Pitching Rules Frisco Classic

Before Oklahoma State senior righthander Tyler Buffett took the mound against Nebraska in the Frisco College Baseball Classic on Friday, head coach Josh Holliday told him he didn’t remember anything about Buffett’s first two starts of the year.

Those starts, against Grand Canyon and Texas State, had been a struggle, with Buffett forfeiting 10 runs in his first nine innings. But those starts were also out of character. It was only a matter of time before Buffett returned to form. The righthander was a postseason hero for the Cowboys last June, allowing only two earned runs in 22 NCAA tournament innings and throwing an eight-inning scoreless gem against Arizona in the College World Series.

And he was back to his old ways against the Cornhuskers on Friday, allowing just two hits, walking one and striking out seven in 7.1 innings to lead Oklahoma State to a 1-0 win.

“Coach Rob (Walton) and I worked all week on keeping the ball down, getting my fastball on the corners and throwing my curveball in the strike zone,” Buffett said. “I was looking forward to facing a great team like Nebraska. Like coach said, I just forgot my last two starts and concentrated on the moment.”

In the four-team tournament’s other game, another CWS hero from last June rekindled some Omaha magic. Crafty Arizona lefthander J.C. Cloney, who threw 16 scoreless innings in the CWS, has still yet to allow an earned run this year. He blanked Arkansas through 7.2 innings, allowing just three hits and striking out seven to two walks. In the process he outdueled Arkansas ace Blaine Knight, who struck out 10 and delivered a stellar outing of his own.

Cloney has now not allowed an earned run in his last 38 innings, dating back to last year.

“I was fortunate to have it going on, and things were working for me,” Cloney said. “You try to stay in the zone, so you can pitcher later into the game. The defense made some great plays, and I was just trying to get ground balls. It is what is, and they were making plays behind me.”

The Lineup

Nine newsmakers from Friday’s action.

David Peterson, lhp, Oregon: It’s hard to put together a more dominant outing than the one Peterson threw against Mississippi State. The lefthander struck out a program-best 17 batters in eight scoring hits, allowing only three hits and walking none, as the Ducks beat the Bulldogs, 1-0.

Justin Dillon, rhp, Sacramento State: The Hornets ace has been off to a sizzling start to the season. After allowing just one hit in seven innings to Washington State and following that start up with a 13-strikeout, one-walk no-hitter against Northern Kentucky, Dillon led Sacramento State to an upset over Washington, allowing just one hit and striking out eight in six scoreless innings.

Keegan Thompson, rhp, Auburn: Thompson’s return from Tommy John surgery has gone as smooth as possible. The righthander now hasn’t allowed a run in 21 innings to start the season, as he tossed seven one-hit innings against visiting Lipscomb in an 8-0 win.

Griffin Canning, rhp, UCLA: In a 1-0 win over Michigan, Canning struck out 12 batters for the second straight start, twirling an eight-inning scoreless gem. Canning has not allowed a run in three starts and has 32 strikeouts in 21 innings.

Grant Brown, of, Tulane: With the Green Wave looking to snap a seven-game losing streak, Brown came through at just the right moment, hitting a walk-off single with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth to lead Tulane past West Virginia, 9-8.

Beau Sulser, rhp, Dartmouth: Pitching in a notoriously tough atmosphere at Miami, Sulser clearly wasn’t intimidated, as he struck out 10 Hurricanes, walked just one and allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 win for Dartmouth.

Alex Faedo, rhp, Florida: The No. 1 prospect on the College Top 100 pitched like it on Friday, striking out nine and throwing an economical 79 pitches in seven scoreless innings against Columbia. Faedo hasn’t allowed a run in his last 15.2 innings.

Quincy Nieporte, 1b, Florida State: In a colossal 18-10 win over Oakland, Nieporte supplied much of the muscle, hitting his second grand slam of the season and third home run overall.

Seth Romero, lhp, Houston: For the third straight start, the electric lefthander tallied 10-plus strikeouts, striking out 10 Titans and allowing three runs on seven hits in eight innings of work as Houston took down ace Connor Seabold and Cal State Fullerton, 7-4.