Junior given honor of starting season opener
Somewhere in the story of almost every championship is a moment where the cosmos began to align. The vast majority of the time, the moment comes and goes. It is crucial in the then and there, but not until after the title is captured and the glory attained does its significance become apparent in the here and now, growing to define the run to the title.
Dave Roberts steals second base when everyone knows he’s stealing. Adam Vinatieri kicks a 48-yard field goal into a blizzard’s swirling winds. Jack Nicklaus birdies 17 at the Masters in 1986. Jim Leyritz pulls a slider over the left field wall. Grant Hill hits Christian Laettner in the chest with a length-of-the-court pass.
The 2010 College World Series champion South Carolina Gamecocks were no different. The moment came when coach Ray Tanner, knowing one loss to rival Clemson would eliminate the Gamecocks and send the Tigers to the championship series, handed the ball to Michael Roth.
Roth, a gregarious sophomore left-handed reliever from Greer, had only started two games in his career. The most innings he had thrown in a single game during the 2010 season was 3.1. His career-high outing was 4.1 innings.
On paper, he was a less-than-ideal candidate to start against Clemson that night. But Tanner’s hands were tied. His top two starters, Blake Cooper and Sam Dyson, were both unavailable, with no obvious choice behind them. The running joke during the season was that the third starter was named “TBA,” as in “To Be Announced.”
Tanner had to choose someone. Some expected he’d tab Nolan Belcher. Others thought he’d give the nod to Jay Brown. Tanner chose Roth. The decision was read as a sign USC was planning to piece together the game using numerous arms out of the bullpen, with Roth leading the way.
Roth told Tanner in the team hotel that day that he would pitch until his arm fell off. Tanner jokingly asked if that would occur after one inning.
Roth’s arm stayed attached to his shoulder, but the plan didn’t work. Over nine improbable innings, the plan morphed from Tanner’s see-how-it-goes strategy to one of the greatest performances in College World Series history.
“It was a lot of fun,” Roth said of his time at the College World Series. “It’s an experience I’ll never forget, that’s for sure. I really enjoyed how much the fans and just Columbia rallied behind us. I wouldn’t mind getting back there again. That’s what we’re shooting for.”
Roth pitched the one inning Tanner prodded him about, and then eight more after that. He flummoxed the Tigers, yielding one run on three scattered hits in a heroic complete game effort. USC won 5-1.
“I really can’t [put it into words],” second baseman Scott Wingo said when asked about Roth’s performance. “Like I told everybody, I knew he could do that. I played with him in high school, [Amateur Athletic Union] ball and everything. I knew he could do what he did. But to go throw nine innings like that is unbelievable.”
The next night, a 4-3 Carolina win propelled the Gamecocks to the championship series and Clemson back home to the Upstate. About 72 hours after that, the Gamecocks were national champions. Roth, getting the second start no one ever thought he’d receive a week prior, threw five innings of one-run ball to set up Carolina’s 2-1 Game Two extra-inning triumph and two-game championship series sweep of UCLA.
Now, a new season starts today. Roth will begin it as USC’s opening day starter, continuing a story few ever envisioned being written prior to that balmy summer night in the Midwest.
“It’s special,” Roth said of the honor. “It’s going to be a special day for me, my family, for the baseball team family here and for all of Gamecock Nation. We’re going to be celebrating last year and also celebrating a new year in which we get to defend our national title for the first time.”
The start is yet another stop along what has been a thrilling few months for Roth.
“I’d say it’s been pretty crazy, but at the same time it’s been really fun,” Roth said. “I’ll take it.”
A rather easygoing person, nerves and pressure are two things Roth has always seemed impervious to since arriving in Columbia. That won’t change, even though he finds himself facing the great expectations heaped upon an opening day starter in addition to the great expectations many will have for a College World Series hero.
“I’m not really worried about fans expecting me to go out there and throw nine innings,” Roth said. “I didn’t throw nine innings against UCLA in the championship game. I’m going to go out there and give the team a chance to win.”
Most players would be determined, perhaps desperate, to carve out a legacy beyond their transcendent moment in the sun. Roth is like that in a way. He said he’d like to “extend” upon what happened in Omaha.
But if the glory of Omaha is what defines him, that wouldn’t be the worst thing.
“That’s a pretty good definition to me,” Roth said.