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June 21, 2012

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 media-icon-photogallery.gif | Photo Gallery 2 media-icon-photogallery.gif

  • South Carolina has allowed four runs or fewer in all eight of its NCAA Tournament games this season. The only other teams in this year’s field to allow four runs or fewer in every game are Prairie View and Rice, neither of which made it out of regionals.
  • The Gamecock pitching staff closed the game with a 1.68 ERA (75.0 IP, 14 ER) in the NCAA Tournament, including a 1.21 mark by the bullpen. South Carolina’s relief corps has fanned 29 and allowed just 11 hits in 22.1 innings this postseason.
  • South Carolina enters the game undefeated this season when scoring in the first inning (18-0), when scoring 7 runs (20-0), when the game ends in a shutout (8-0) and when the final margin is two runs (8-0).
  • South Carolina’s 28-2 (.933) record over the past three seasons in the NCAA Tournament is the best three-year postseason record in NCAA history (must make tournament at least two out of three years to qualify). The second-best mark belongs to Miami (FL), which went 22-2 (.917) from 1999-01.
  • South Carolina has now won five straight MCWS elimination games dating back to the 2010 MCWS.
  • All of South Carolina’s four runs and five of the Gamecock’s seven hits came with two out.
  • Starter Michael Roth continued his streak of seven consecutive quality starts dating back to May 11. In 11 career NCAA Tournament starts, Roth is 8-0, pitching 5.0 innings each time and never allowing more than three earned runs.
  • Roth became the first pitcher to throw a complete game with two hits or less allowed since June 6, 1993, when Mike Fontana (Long Beach State) threw a two-hitter against Kansas in a 6-1 victory.
  • Roth retired the final 22 Kent State batters he faced following the RBI single by Polen in the second inning.
  • Roth has a 1.34 career ERA in the MCWS (sixth all-time among pitchers with 30.0 innings, entering game), allowing just eight runs on 31 hits in 53.2 innings.
  • Roth made his ninth career MCWS appearance, tying him for sixth on the all-time list.
  • Roth’s seventh start is tied for the most ever (J.D. Arteaga of Miami (FL) also started seven from 1994-97).
  • This was Roth’s 19th start of the season, tying for third-most in South Carolina history and second-most in the nation this year (behind Ty Blach of Creighton, who started 21 times).
  • Roth set the record for most career innings pitched at the MCWS with 53.2 innings, passing Steve Arlin of Ohio State (1965-66) and Greg Swindell of Texas (1984-85) currently hold the record with 47.0 innings apiece.
  • Roth is 4-0 in his MCWS career, he is tied him for the most wins in MCWS history (11 other pitchers have recorded four wins). He would be the first pitcher in MCWS history to have four career wins with at least one in three different seasons.
  • Roth has two career complete games in the MCWS; both have come in elimination games at the MCWS. The other was against Clemson on June 26, 2010. The last time a pitcher had two complete games was Jason Windsor (Cal State Fullerton), who had two complete games in the 2004 MCWS.
  • Roth is the just the fourth pitcher in MCWS history throw a complete game with two or fewer hits allowed and no walks. The others are Arizona State’s Craig Swan on June 14, 1972, against Temple (9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 12 SO), Missouri’s Dennis Musgraves on June 17, 1964, against Maine (9.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO) and Carl Thomas of Arizona on June 12, 1955, against Springfield (9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 15 SO).
  • Christian Walker’s 23 career MCWS hits coming in tie him for third on the all-time list with Keith Moreland of Texas (1973, ’74, ’75).
  • Walker has 156 career putouts in the MCWS, second all-time to Daryl Arenstein of Southern California (191 from 1970-73).
  • Vergason’s run-scoring single gives him seven RBI in eight NCAA Tournament games this year. He had just five RBI in 42 games during the regular season in 2012.
  • After drawing a fifth-inning free pass, Vergason now has eight walks and just two strikeouts in the NCAA Tournament this year. Vergason has 10 walks and three strikeouts over his last 12 games dating back to May 19.
  • Grayson Greiner drove in his first run since May 6, a span of 18 team games.
  • Adam Matthews has now scored in seven of South Carolina’s eight NCAA games this season (eight runs total after his first run on Thursday).

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