USC outscores Sooners 10-1 in Super Regional
He will be making his sixth trip this week.
For the third straight season, South Carolina is heading back to college baseball's biggest event. The Gamecocks swept the Oklahoma Sooners over the weekend to punch their ticket to Omaha.
USC took game one by a score of 5-0, as ace pitcher Michael Roth led the Gamecocks to their second shutout of the postseason. The senior hurled 7.2 scoreless innings in his final career start at Carolina Stadium, allowing just six hits while striking out three batters on the evening. Roth improved his NCAA tournament career record to 6-0 and received a lengthy standing ovation following his final pitch. The senior then came out of the dugout to tip his cap to the crowd.
"All the guys were telling me that the fans were calling for a curtain call," Roth said. "That was my first and last one here, so that was pretty cool."
South Carolina grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the second inning and extended it to 5-0 in the seventh. USC was led offensively by center fielder Evan Marzilli and first baseman Christian Walker, as the duo tallied half of South Carolina's eight hits.
"You can never have too many runs," Marzilli said of the three-run second inning. "It's very important to go out there and establish an early lead, especially in a game like this."
Mother Nature wreaked havoc on game two of the Super Regional, as the Gamecocks and Sooners were only able to play five innings on Sunday before the threat of heavy rain caused the game to be delayed for over an hour. Once play resumed, the teams were only able to squeeze in half an inning before another onset of rain caused the game to be suspended with the score tied 0-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Once play started again on Monday afternoon, South Carolina seized control. The Gamecocks plated two runs in the top of the seventh inning to take their first lead of the game. The Sooners cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the frame, but USC responded with three more runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach.
Junior Matt Price recorded the save for the Gamecocks, the 41st of his career, tying the all-time SEC career record. Price received a warm welcome from the crowd when he entered in the seventh inning.
"Just coming into the game, it gave me some chills," Price said afterwards. "This could possibly [have been] my last game at Carolina Stadium, so I was just taking everything in."
The Gamecocks will now prepare to face a familiar foe in Omaha. USC's opponent in their CWS-opener will be the Florida Gators, who took two of three games against South Carolina in Columbia in the second conference series of the season. The Gamecocks and Gators will play at 9 p.m. on Saturday night.