South Carolina Baseball: Gamecock has career-best performance for New York Yankees

South Carolina baseball alum Clarke Schmidt has been one of the most consistent pitchers in all of Major League Baseball since the start of the 2023 campaign. The right-handed New York Yankee is 2nd in the league in total starts with 3 runs allowed or fewer during that time (including all nine of his tries this year), and he is putting up career-best numbers so far in the early goings of the 2024 season.

Speaking of career-best numbers, when Schmidt took the mound on Thursday afternoon, he delivered the best outing of his professional career against the Minnesota Twins. In fact, the former All-SEC hurler was utterly dominant for the Yankees in his team's win over Cal State-Northridge alum Joe Ryan at Minneapolis' Target Field.

For the game, Schmidt did not surrender any runs, went 8 innings (a career-high), struck out 8 batters (tying a career-high), and gave up just 3 hits (the lowest number in his career in a start). He also surrendered 0 walks. The lone blemish on his day was a throwing error, but it did not come back to haunt the Yankees. With 3 runs in the 1st inning, New York gave Schmidt more than enough support in what became a 5-0 victory on the road.

The victory was Schmidt's third win in a row and his second-straight start without allowing a run. Schmidt's win pushed the Yankees record to 30-15, easily the best record in the American League and the second-best record in Major League Baseball.

If things go well for Schmidt the rest of the way this season, he could be in line for his first All-Star Game selection later on this summer.

Clarke's next scheduled start for the Yankees will be back in New York next week against the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners.