June 21, 2012

CBI Live: #8 South Carolina 4, Kent State 1

CWS Game 10 Notes

SEC team in title series for fifth straight year

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

@roadtoomaha

With either Arkansas or South Carolina reaching the CWS championship series, it will be the fifth straight season that a school from the SEC will battle for the title. Georgia reached the championship series in 2008, LSU won the title in 2009, the Gamecocks won the crown in both 2010 and 2011, while Florida also played in the finals a season ago.

South Carolina will be the first team to play two CWS games in the same day since 1987, when Georgia completed a suspended game on May 31 and played a full contest against Arkansas. The last teams to play two full CWS games in one day were California and Michigan, both in 1980. The Wolverines faced Miami (Fla.) and Arizona on June 2, while the Golden Bears met Michigan and Clemson on June 1.

Michael Roth set a CWS record with 53.2 career innings, passing the 47.0 innings by Steve Arlin of Ohio State (1965-66) and Greg Swindell of Texas (1984-85). Roth raised his CWS career record to 4-0, tying for the most career victories. It was his seventh CWS start, matching the mark of J.D. Arteaga of Miami (Fla.).

Roth is the fourth pitcher in CWS history to throw a complete game with two or fewer hits and no walks. The others are Craig Swan of Arizona State (6/14/72 vs. Temple, 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 12 K), Dennis Musgraves of Missouri (6/17/64 vs. Maine (9 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) and Carl Thomas of Arizona (6/12/55 vs. Springfield, 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 15 K).

The game took 2:07, the shortest CWS contest since June 14, 2003, when Rice edged Missouri State 4-2 in 2:02.

Kent State was 4-1 in the NCAA Tournament against the SEC. The Golden Flashes had two wins over Kentucky in the Gary Regional. In the CWS, KSU lost to Arkansas, defeated Florida and fell to South Carolina.

Kent State is 14-5 against left-handed starters this season, 33-15 vs. right-handers.

South Carolina now owns a 6-2 advantage in all-time series with Kent State. Prior to Thursday, the teams last met in 1997, with the Gamecocks taking two of three from the Golden Flashes in Columbia.