Roth Shuts Out Oklahoma, USC 1 Win Away From CWS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (USC SID) — Senior lefthander Michael Roth worked 7 2/3 scoreless innings, and South Carolina jumped on Oklahoma early on its way to a 5-0 victory on Saturday night in the NCAA Columbia Super Regional at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks (44-17) are now one win away from making their third straight trip to the College World Series. Carolina extended its NCAA record postseason winning streak to 20 games. The Gamecocks have also won 23 straight NCAA Tournament games at home, including a 12-0 mark at Carolina Stadium. With the loss, the Sooners fall to 42-24 on the year. Roth didn‘t disappoint in his final start at Carolina Stadium as he allowed only six hits and had three strikeouts in 7 2/3 shutout innings to improve to 7-1 on the season. He is now 6-0 in the NCAA Tournament for his career. Oklahoma starting hurler Jordan John (8-8) was tagged with the loss after working just two innings and surrendering three runs and two hits. Evan Marzilli and Christian Walker went 2-for-3 and 2-for-4, respectively, to lead Carolina at the plate. As a team, the Gamecocks tallied eight hits on the night. Joey Pankake, Walker, LB Dantzler and Chase Vergason each had one RBI. The Sooners collected six hits in the loss. The Gamecocks struck first with a three-run outburst in the bottom of the second inning. Senior Adam Matthews drew a walk to lead off the inning, advanced to third on a single by Erik Payne and scored on a double to right center by Dantzler. Payne then plated on a wild pitch by John, and Dantzler made it 3-0 by scoring on a sacrifice fly to center field from Vergason. Carolina padded its lead with a pair of runs in the seventh. Vergason produced a one-out single to get things started and stole second, his first stolen base of the season, to move into scoring position. Two batters later, Pankake ripped a single to center to drive in Vergason. Walker then delivered a single through the left side to score Pankake, giving the Gamecocks a 5-0 cushion. Roth retired the first two batters of the eighth inning before giving up a single to Evan Mistich, which led to junior Tyler Webb entering the contest to finish out the game. Webb was stellar in relief as he fanned the final batter of the eighth inning and retired the side in the ninth to preserve the win. The Gamecocks and Sooners will meet in game two of the Columbia Super Regional on Sunday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU. Live stats will be available at GamecocksOnline.com. Notes General “¢ Saturday‘s attendance was 8,242, marking the 14th sellout of the season and 25th in Carolina Stadium history. Oklahoma “¢ Oklahoma drops to 42-24 on the year. “¢ The Sooners are now 80-69 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. “¢ Oklahoma has now lost the opener of its last three Super Regional appearances. The Sooners bounced back to win game two in both 2010 and 2006. “¢ The loss snaps the Sooners‘ four-game winning streak. Oklahoma has lost three times in its last 10 games. “¢ The Sooners were shut out for just the fourth time this season. South Carolina “¢ South Carolina improves to 44-17 on the year. “¢ The Gamecocks have won a NCAA record 20 consecutive NCAA Tournament games. “¢ Carolina has won 23 straight NCAA Tournament games at home, including a 12-0 mark at Carolina Stadium. “¢ The Gamecocks are now 117-56 in NCAA Tournament games, including a 25-1 record the last three seasons. “¢ Senior lefthander Michael Roth worked 7 2/3 scoreless innings to improve to 6-0 for his career in NCAA Tournament outings. “¢ Carolina opened the scoring with three runs in the second inning as it improved to 33-5 this season when scoring first, including a 4-0 mark in the postseason.