OMAHA, Neb. -- As the 2011 season has progressed, South Carolina shortstop Peter Mooney has steadily shed the 'Bobby Haney Lite' label.

With USC now three wins away from a second consecutive national championship, Mooney has rightfully secured his own identity, and deservedly so.

After a shaky defensive start to his USC career led some to question why he was playing, Mooney, a JUCO transfer, has been nearly flawless over the last couple of months. He has committed just two errors in the last 16 games to raise his fielding percentage to a respectable .954. Overall, he has 13 errors in 66 games. But more than one-half (7) of those miscues came in the first 16 games of the season.

Mooney's performance over the last three months has proven why he captured two national Gold Glove Awards at Palm Beach Community College and, in the process, convinced USC head coach Ray Tanner that he signed the right man for the job.

"I thought we could get a solid player in there and we knew what Mooney brought," Tanner said following Tuesday night's 7-1 win over Virginia. "That (replacing Haney) was going to be a tough challenge for a true freshman. But Mooney was the defensive player at his junior college. He had great pedigree with his brother playing in the SEC. We thought he had a chance to be really good. He has 13 errors, but a lot of them came in the first (month). He has played very well for us."

Since arriving in Columbia, Mooney has faced constant comparisons with Haney, a former two-year starter who had just six errors in 64 games in 2010. At first, they appeared to rattle Mooney, but not anymore.

"The thing I emphasized to Mooney in the fall was he had a better arm than Bobby and his hands may be a little bit better and his range is actually a little bit better, but one thing Peter didn't do that Bobby Haney did was Bobby charged almost every single ball," Tanner said. "Bobby played like a lot of Latin players because of the surfaces they play on. The way Bobby played, he cut down on the distance of his throws. He's not sitting on the grass at shortstop.

"In the fall, Mooney sat back a lot because he had good hands and good arm. I kept emphasizing to him that at this position (shortstop), you're going forward. That's the way the good ones play it. You read hops and catch balls in the air. On the ground, it's harder. It was difficult for him to get there, but he comes and gets it now. He has some ability."

Tanner believes playing next to second baseman Scott Wingo in the middle of the infield helped Mooney find smooth sailing.

"Having Wingo as his partner means a lot," Tanner said. "They take a lot of pride in playing defense. They try to work together and they're good for each other."

Throughout Mooney's early season struggles, Tanner continued to express confidence in him, insisting he would continue to stick him in the lineup every day. The confidence boost paid dividends.

"That made him feel good, but I saw him all fall," Tanner said. "He's a good player. When you're going through something in athletics for the first time, regardless of the sport, there is a comfort zone you have to get to. He scuffled a little bit in the early going, but once he settled in he's been a pretty good player for us."

Offensively, Mooney started slowly as well, dipping as low as .217 on March 18. But now he's hitting .276 (67-for-243) and contributing regularly in that phase. He had a RBI single in the third inning on Tuesday night.

"He's a good hitter. I think he's a .300 hitter, but he had a steak in there where he didn't get enough," Tanner said. "But he's swung the bat for us.

PITCHING PLANS: Following practice on Wednesday, Tanner said he is still undecided on who will start Friday's game against Virginia or California. The top candidates are freshman Forrest Koumas and junior Michael Roth. It's doubtful any decision will be made by Tanner or USC pitching coach Jerry Meyers until the Gamecocks know who their opponent will be sometime around 10 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Koumas, a local product from Lugoff-Elgin High School, would make his CWS debut on Friday if he gets the call. If anything, he should be well rested since his last appearance came June 5 against Stetson. The freshman is 6-1 with a 3.07 ERA in 67.1 innings with 59 strikeouts and 28 walks. Roth threw 122 pitches on Sunday night. Would four days rest be enough for one of the best hurlers in the country?

"We're a couple of days away," Tanner said Wednesday after practice at Creighton. "Is Roth ready to go? If he is, how do we use him? Do we use him now or do we wait to see if we win? If we lose, we use him then. Do we get to use him twice? All those things come into play. Are we going to play straight through or are we going to have a rainy day? Roth has been our best guy. We want him out there as often as we can. That's the thought process for getting him back out there, but we just haven't made the decision yet."

JACKIE KEEPS SWINGING: By collecting one hit in Sunday's 5-4 win over Texas A&M and two hits in Tuesday's dominating 7-1 victory over Virginia, Jackie Bradley Jr. has now collected at least one hit in 17 of 18 career NCAA Tournament games. His batting average in those contests is a healthy .384 (28-for-73). Bradley Jr. had a 15-game NCAA Tournament hitting streak snapped last year when he went 0-for-5 in the final game against UCLA, but has started a new one with his 3-for-9 showing so far in 2011.

"I didn't expect him to be as effective as he is right now," Tanner said Wednesday. "It's been a long time and he had a serious injury. He missed 27 games or so. I thought he could play defense and be a contributor from that standpoint. I thought he was going to be extremely uncomfortable swinging the bat, but it just hasn't appeared to be the case. He looks like a guy who hasn't missed any time. It's been amazing to me."

Bradley Jr. is batting .342 (13-for-38) with two homers and 10 RBI in nine CWS games.

"It's almost like he relishes this environment," Tanner said. "He's a special player and a special person. I hope he can stay healthy and has a great career in the big leagues. He'll be a tremendous asset to an organization and the clubhouse and the media. He has a bright future ahead of him. Some people take this as pressure, but he enjoys this."

NO LETUP: Simply because Virginia or California must beat USC twice to deny the Gamecocks a second consecutive trip to the national championship series doesn't mean USC will cruise through their next game on Friday, USC pitcher Michael Roth said.

"We don't approach a game differently. We're not thinking we're playing with house money or anything like that," Roth said. "We're going to go out Friday and try to win that game so we can get another two days off and be well rested for the next thing. Right now, we're focused on Friday."

Unlike last year when they had to work their way through the loser's bracket, the CWS format gives USC two days off, giving them more time to do community service activities. Wednesday, they visited a children's hospital in Omaha.

"It will help us do something other than baseball, which is what we did a lot of last year," Roth said. "We'll rest our arms and our bodies. It's something new for the guys that were here last year, but it's a good feeling."

Roth said the Gamecocks are not taking a 'we told you so' approach to the team's detractors who predicted their demise well before this stage of the CWS.

"We're still the number four national seed. Underrated? You can call it whatever you want, it doesn't really matter," Roth said. "This team doesn't pay attention to rankings or anything like that. We think we're pretty good. That's the mindset we have. There are a lot of great ball clubs out here. We're just trying to go out and have some fun."

VANDY OUSTS TAR HEELS: The SEC's domination of the 2011 College World Series continued on Wednesday night when Vanderbilt eliminated North Carolina, 5-1, at TD Ameritrade Park. As usual, the story for the Commodores was excellent pitching as Taylor Hill and Corey Williams combined on a four-hitter.

"He (Hill) set the tone early by throwing a lot of strikes and keeping them off base," Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said. "It was really a contrast to the first game where there were a lot of base runners for North Carolina."

The win improved the SEC's Omaha record against ACC schools to a perfect 3-0 this year. With Vanderbilt and Florida now battling for the Bracket 1 championship (Vandy must win twice; Florida once), the SEC is guaranteed of having a conference representative in the national championship series for the fourth straight year.

Furthermore, either the Gators or the Commodores will become the fourth different SEC school to appear in the national championship series in the last five years, joining Georgia (2008), LSU (2009) and USC (2010) in that elite group.

Boosted by a three-run homer by Connor Harrell in the bottom of the second, Vanderbilt burst out to a 4-0 lead after two innings and never looked back. UNC's Jacob Stallings had two hits, but the other eight spots in the Tar Heels order combined for just two.

Corbin announced during the post-game press conference that No. 1 starter Sonny Gray, a first-round draft pick, would take the mound on Friday afternoon in the first of what Vanderbilt hopes is two games against Florida. But the Commodores are justifiably thinking one game at a time.

"You can't think about two games right now," Corbin explained. "There isn't even a second game unless we win the first one. We will treat it as such. There are nine innings to play and we'll do whatever we can. We have a good guy going on the mound. The biggest factor is being able to do something with their pitching. That's been the nemesis."

NOTES:

-- Scott Wingo has now appeared in 251 career games for the Gamecocks, tying him with Landon Powell (2001-2004) for second place on USC's all-time list. Wingo will move into sole possession of second place three games behind Michael Campbell (2003-2006), who leads with 255 career games.

-- The 130.1 IP thrown by Michael Roth in 2001 are the eighth most in a single season in school history. The school record of 149.0 IP was established by Jim Ward in 1977. Since Roth appears to be guaranteed of at least one more start (he'll likely pitch Sat. in the deciding game of the bracket championship if USC loses on Fri.), he'll have an opportunity to become just the fifth pitcher in school history to reach 140.0 IP in a single season.

-- John Taylor is tied for second all-time in NCAA history for most appearances in a season. His brilliant outing on Tuesday (4.1 IP, 1 hits 0 runs) marked his 47th game of the season, matching the number of appearances by Rob Wooten (UNC, 2007) and Scott Wright (Cal State Fullerton, 1984). Since USC is guaranteed of at least two more games, Taylor will likely finish the season no worse than second place all-time by himself when the Gamecocks finally leave Omaha.

-- Tanner said following Tuesday night's win over Virginia and again on Wednesday that he is looking for an opportunity to utilize LHP Tyler Webb. Stephen Neff is available as well as a left-handed arm out of the bullpen now that he is no longer needed to play the outfield with Jackie Bradley Jr. back in the lineup.

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES SCORES/SCHEDULE:

GAMES OF SAT. JUNE 18

Vanderbilt 7, North Carolina 3

Florida 8, Texas 4

GAMES OF SUN., JUNE 19

Virginia 4, California 1

South Carolina 5, Texas A&M 4

GAMES OF MON., JUNE 20

North Carolina 3, Texas 0 (TEX eliminated)

Vanderbilt v. Florida (Susp. in 6th Inn.)

GAMES OF TUE., JUNE 21

Florida 3, Vanderbilt 1 (Conclusion of Susp. Game)

California 7, Texas A&M 3 (TAM eliminated)

USC 7, Virginia 1

GAME OF WED. JUNE 22:

Vanderbilt 5, North Carolina 1 (UNC eliminated)

GAME OF THUR. JUNE 23:

Virginia v. California, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)(Elimination Game)

(All Times Eastern)

GAMES OF FRI., JUNE 24:

Florida v. Vanderbilt, 2 p.m. (ESPN)(Bracket 1 Championship Round)

South Carolina v. Virginia/California, 7 p.m. (ESPN)(Bracket 2 Championship Round).

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