On a Saturday night when South Carolina extended its record NCAA tournament winning streak to 20 games, both postgame press conferences were dominated by two topics: Michael Roth and the raucous Game 1 environment at sold-out Carolina Stadium.

Oklahoma averaged 1,059 fans for 31 home dates and 2,863 for 34 road/neutral site games in 2012, so the sell-out crowd of 8,242 of mostly garnet-and-black clad fans was certainly one of the largest crowds the Sooners have played in front of this season.

While size does matter, so does the level of noise. And Saturday's sold-out ballpark was probably the loudest Oklahoma has played in since, well, it faced USC in the 2010 College World Series.

"Wow, what an environment!" Oklahoma coach Sunny Golloway exclaimed after USC's 5-0 victory put the Gamecocks one win away from its third straight trip to Omaha. "I've been to a lot of regionals and played in some tough places on the road. There are some tough environments. But this was a terrific environment. I told our guys down the line to embrace it. I told them I felt cheated because I had to stand in the third-base coaching box because I wanted to run and slide and get dirty in front of all those people."

Ray Tanner is now in the final month of his 16th season as USC coach, and tries not to take for granted what he experiences each and every home game.

"I do appreciate it on a daily basis," Tanner said. "Many years ago, I knew there was great tradition here and a great fan base here. If you put a good team on the field, they'll here for you, no matter the sport. I never doubted that from Day 1. Our fans will do their very best to put us in a position to win. It's very special to be in a job where you feel like there's none better. It doesn't get any better than this."

Tanner recalled a conversation with an opposing SEC coach years ago when USC was still playing at Sarge Frye Field. The coach told Tanner that while his school had a better facility, he would rather be coaching at USC because of the vastly superior fan support.

ROTH DELIVERS AGAIN: Saturday marked Michael Roth's final start at Carolina Stadium, and the senior left-hander delivered in typical Roth fashion with 7.2 shutout innings.

"I don't like to think about that too much," Tanner said. "I've been here 16 years and I think he's been here with me for 13 of them. He's been here for a long time. He's been tremendous.

Roth improved his career record to 24-6 and kept his career ERA below 2.00. He's allowed 255 hits and 98 runs in 332.1 innings.

"Early on in his career, even before he made a splash, he was a guy you could talk to," Tanner said. "He was a leader. He was intelligent. He understood the game. He understood his role. He did his work off the field in the classroom. He volunteered in the community. He did all those things.

"He didn't have to be pushed or told or given any direction, He was the right kind of guy from Day 1. His influence on this program is tremendous. It goes beyond the number of years he'll be here. His teammates love him. They have fun."

By throwing 7.2 innings on Saturday, Roth moved from 11th on USC's all-time innings pitched list (324.2 innints at the start of the game) to ninth, with 332.1 innings. He jumped into the Top 10 past Earl Bass (328.2) and Tim Lewis (330.0). Greg Ward is eighth at 340.1.

As soon as the top of the seventh was finished and Roth had returned to the dugout, Tanner and Roth discussed the possibility of him returning to the mound for the eighth.

"He was at 108 (pitches), I think. He was missing a little bit high," Tanner said. "Normally, when a pitcher starts missing high, that means he's tired. I said, 'If you're tired, let's be honest here. We have a pretty good bullpen here, let's go.' He said, 'I feel good.' I said, 'You're missing high.'

"He asked if I wanted to take him out. I said, 'You have ownership here.' He said, 'I feel good.' He said, 'How about waiting until I get a runner on?'" I said, 'I don't want a runner on.' He said, "I'll try not to put one on.' He said he felt good and could throw 15 more. I said he had earned that, but let's not give them any free passes."

STILL NEED ONE WIN: Largely due to Roth's impressive outing, USC is one win away from returning to Omaha for the third year in a row. But the Gamecocks have learned in the past how difficult securing that final win can be.

Because Roth lasted 7.2 innings, Tyler Webb had to throw just 13 pitches to get the final four outs. Colby Holmes will start Game 2 with Matt Price, Evan Beal and Webb available for duty.

"That's big, but I think they're set up pretty good too. They only used two guys," Tanner said. "They'll come back. They used a bunch of guys last weekend and they were successful. They're really good on the mound. They have some fresh guys."

Oklahoma stranded seven runners, five in the first four innings when it had a couple of chances to score off Roth but couldn't muster the key hit. The best chance came in the top of the second when consecutive singles with one out yielded a pair of base runners, but Roth wiggled out of trouble with a fly-out and groundout.

"The big thing for us was, we weren't getting hits at the right time," Oklahoma's Caleb Bushyhead said. "It seems like we had a lot of guys at first and second or even third, but we just couldn't come through in the clutch. That's something we have to do a better job at tomorrow. You have to tip your cap to him because we didn't score any runs."

Oklahoma played with its backs to the wall for four straight games at the NCAA Charlottesville Regional and won all four. It hopes to parlay that experience into two straight wins over USC on Sunday and Monday.

"Our backs have been against the wall all year and we've prevailed for the most part," Bushyhead said. "I don't see why this is any different. What an environment and place to be playing. Right now, we're all having the times of our lives. This is fun. The fans are loud. It's a beautiful ballpark. We have to be excited to come out and play again tomorrow."

SUPER REGIONAL ROSTER: USC set its 27-man roster for the NCAA Super Regional on Friday. The roster cannot be changed unless USC advances to the College World Series.

The roster: Tanner English, Connor Bright, Joel Seddon, TJ Costen, Joey Pankake, Sean Sullivan, Christian Walker, Evan Beal, Nolan Belcher, Chase Vergason, Dante Rosenberg, LB Dantzler, Matt Price, Grayson Greiner, Brison Celek, Adam Matthews, Forrest Koumas, Michael Roth, Erik Payne, Evan Marzilli, Kyle Martin, Jordan Montgomery, Logan Munson, Hunter Privette, Tyler Webb, Patrick Sullivan and Colby Holmes.

Greiner is on the active roster after sitting out the NCAA Regionals. He lightly practiced on Friday and had no significant swelling in his surgically repaired knee (the operation was performed on May 31), clearing him to potentially pinch-hit or play designated hitter this weekend.

Players not on the list are Drake Thomason, already pitching for the summer-league Forest City Owls; Seth Constable, who redshirted and did not play a game this year and is already with the summer-league Thomasville Hi-Toms; Tanner Lovick, who played one game this year; Vince Fiori, who had two appearances this year; Patrick Harrington, who only played two games this year; and Adam Westmoreland, who has not pitched since April 17.

NOTES

* The first three hitters in USC's batting order (Joey Pankake, Evan Marzilli, Christian Walker) went a combined 5-for-11 with two RBI and one run scored. The other three hits for the Gamecocks came from Erik Payne, LB Dantzler (double, USC's lone extra-base hit) and Chase Vergason.

* When asked if chasing after a ball that gets past him is the loneliest feeling in the world, Marzilli quickly replied, "Yes. It's definitely not a good feeling." Marzilli committed his second error of the season in the fifth inning when a single scooted past him for a two-base error.

* Oklahoma has dropped the openers in its last three Super Regionals (2012 at USC, 2010 at Rice, 2006 at Virginia). But it bounced back to win Game 2 the first two times it fell behind 1-0.

* Saturday's loss snapped the Sooners' four-game winning streak. Oklahoma has lost three times in its last 10 games. Oklahoma was shut out for just the fourth time this season.

* USC is now 38-10 when limiting opponents to five runs or less, and 24-0 when the opposition scores two or fewer runs. Oklahoma is 38-10 on the season when holding opponents to five runs or less.

* Saturday marked the eight shutout tossed by USC pitchers in 2012. Since losing 7-2 to Florida at the SEC tournament, USC has given up just seven runs in the last four games, including a pair of whitewashings (Manhattan, Oklahoma).

* USC has won 23 straight NCAA tournament games at home, including a 12-0 mark at Carolina Stadium, which opened in 2009.

* The Gamecocks improved to 117-56 all-time in the NCAA tournament, including a 25-1 record the last three seasons.

SUPER REGIONAL SCOREBOARD

South Carolina 5, Oklahoma 0 (USC leads 1-0)

LSU 5, Stony Brook 4 (12) (Completion of suspended game)

Stony Brook 3, LSU 1 (series tied 1-1)

Florida 7, NC State 1 (Florida leads 1-0)

Arizona 7, St. John's 4 (Arizona wins 2-0)

Baylor 8, Arkansas 1 (Baylor leads 1-0)

UCLA 4, TCU 1 (UCLA wins 2-0)

Kent State 7, Oregon 6 (Kent State leads 1-0)

Stanford at Florida State, ppd. (Game 2 on Sunday)

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D. McCallum