OMAHA, Neb. - Top starter Michael Roth and closer Matt Price are renowned as two of the top pitchers in College World Series history, and rightly so, since they've anchored South Carolina's staff through two consecutive national championships, and possibly a third.
So, which Gamecocks pitcher did the local newspaper in the capital city of college baseball identify as USC's key hurler for the best-of-three national championship series starting tonight against Arizona?
Tyler Webb.
These words in the Omaha World-Herald neatly sum up Webb's contribution to USC's inspiring run through Bracket Two to the finals: "Michael Roth gets the accolades at the front end and Matt Price the props at the back, but it's Webb who has excelled as the Gamecocks' man in the middle."
After a solid regular season, Webb has responded to the pressures of the College World Series with some of the best performances of his career.
Webb has appeared in 38 games this season, second-most in Gamecock history behind only John Taylor's 50 last year, and in three of USC's five contests in Omaha. He has allowed less than one hit per inning (43 in 57 innings), while averaging one strikeout per inning (57 punchouts) with 12 runs allowed. Only eight of the hits against Webb have gone for extra bases.
"He's been good for us the entire year," USC coach Ray Tanner said after Friday's bracket-clinching win. "We've had him in the starting role a few times, but he just seems to thrive coming out of the bullpen. In any situation we give him, whether it's a short stint or a four- or five-inning stint, he just takes it and goes and tries to go at hitters and use both sides of the plate. His velocity has been better in the second half of the season."
The junior left-hander from Nassawadox, Va., has allowed no runs on just four hits with seven strikeouts in 10 innings in Omaha. In USC's come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Arkansas on Friday, Webb served as the bridge between starter Colby Holmes (two innings) and closer Matt Price (three) by throwing four brilliant innings, yielding just two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
He entered the game in the top of the third with runners on second and third with no outs. He limited the damage to one run on a sacrifice fly before combining with Price to shut down the Razorbacks over the final six innings.
"I just tried to play damage-control there. And once we got out of that, with the great catch by Adam (Matthews) and everything, just tried to pound the strike zone and get it to Matt," Webb said.
Webb has not allowed a run in his NCAA tournament career, yielding just six hits in 18.2 innings with 17 strikeouts in 14 appearances. In addition, he has not allowed a run in 14.1 innings at the CWS in seven appearances.
He is holding opponents to a .111 batting average at the College World Series, surrendering just five hits. Last week, he had a 5.1-inning scoreless stint in South Carolina's 2-1 loss to Arkansas.
Webb is the first pitcher to have two separate scoreless relief outings of four innings or more in a single CWS since 1997.
"Since he's a tall left-hander, he's got some downward plane," Tanner noted. "When he's getting some velocity going, he can run a ball up in the zone and it's not easy to stay off. They chase just a little bit. It's not easy to stay off those pitches. He's been outstanding for us, no doubt about it. Look at his numbers throughout the year."
ROTH CREDITS COACHES: When Roth started pitching for USC in 2009, Mark Calvi was the pitching coach. He remained in that role until the end of the 2010 season, when he was named head coach in waiting at South Alabama.
Jerry Meyers returned to USC as pitching coach after six seasons as coach at Old Dominion. Roth has thrived under Meyers' guidance, going 23-4 over the past two seasons.
"I came in with coach Calvi when he was pitching coach. He's a great pitching coach," Roth said. "Then coach Meyers came in last year. Coach Meyers really helped me with my mechanics and my front side and getting that stronger. I think that's helped me gain some velocity and just helped with some location.
"Obviously, it hasn't been the best at times this year. But he's really helped me focus on my mechanics and made me more sound mechanically as the year goes on. And that's a great influence."
Roth is expected to start Game 2 of the national championship series against Arizona on Monday even though he would take the mound with only three days rest. He hurled a complete game two-hitter in the 4-1 win over Kent State on Thursday, retiring the final 22 batters he faced. However, being the competitor he is, Roth will demand the ball.
As fantastic as Roth has been throughout his career, he counts getting the straight-faced Meyers to laugh as another important accomplishment.
"I've gotten him to laugh a couple of times," Roth said. "That's kind of tough. He's pretty straight-faced. But he's a great pitching coach. He's definitely helping me out a lot."
The happy-go-lucky Roth has played an integral role in changing Tanner's mindset as well over the past four years. The coach admits that he's "old-school" but has adjusted to the different nature of ballplayer in an internet-driven, social media-obsessed world.
"From day one, Michael Roth has been exactly what you see. When he tells you that he's not a baseball fan, I doubt he's watched any baseball since he's been here except the games we've been involved in. That's just who he is," Tanner said. "Adam was a lot more serious as a freshman, but he became roommates with Michael. So it took him awhile. But Michael got the best of him. He listened to Michael instead of me. So he made the adjustment."
COMEBACK KIDS: USC has trailed in three of its five games in Omaha, yet finds itself in the national championship series for the third straight year after rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the winner-take-all bracket championship game. The Gamecocks scored a pair of runs in the fifth and the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a bases-loaded walk by Matthews.
The second win over Arkansas in Omaha improved USC to 10-4 when it's tied after six innings, 28-1 when the opponent has scored two or fewer runs this season and 15-13 in one-run games.
"We've been behind a few games," Matthews said. "With that said, you can't just give up. You have to continue to grind it out. As coach Tanner continues to stay in here and continues to tell us on the field, you just have to go out there and try and get on and hopefully get a bunt down and get a big hit. This time of year, it's about who makes the big plays, gets the bunts down and gets the clutch hits. Fortunately, we've been lucky to have a few opportunities where we've scratched a couple big runs."
FAVORABLE FORMAT: Tanner and Arizona coach Andy Lopez prefer the best-of-three championship series format that has been utilized for a decade (first year was 2003) instead of the former single national championship game arrangement preferred by CBS. However, once ESPN gained the exclusive rights to the entire College World Series in 2003, the NCAA designed the new tournament setup, which has generally gotten rave reviews for being fairer to the final two teams.
"I remember we had (Cal State-Fullerton in the 1992 national championship game) and we had three wins and no losses, and they had a loss," Lopez recalled. "I remember waking up that morning going, 'Wait a minute. If they win today, I'll have a loss and they'll have a loss, but they'll have a championship. So do we play another one in Iowa somewhere?' I really like this format. This is a good format. It sets you up for a three-game series and you get a chance to go out and play."
NOTES
* Arizona is second among the eight teams in Omaha with a .277 batting average (31-of-112), while USC is fourth at .229 (36-of-157). Five of the eight CWS teams have team batting averages below .220, another sign of the new age in college baseball. The leading CWS hitter on either team is Arizona right fielder Robert Refsnyder, who is batting .400 (6-of-15) with one home run and three RBIs.
* Another sign: Arizona (1.20 ERA; .992 fielding percentage) and USC (1.60, .995) are ranked first and second in team ERA and team fielding. File that under "not a coincidence." USC has committed one error in five games and turned four double plays.
* USC pitchers have allowed just 26 hits, eight runs and 11 walks in 45 innings at the CWS. It's fanned 38 opposing batters.
* When probable USC starter Forrest Koumas throws his first pitch tonight, he'll officially become the sixth different Gamecock pitcher to make an appearance at the College World Series. Through five games, just five USC hurlers have seen action: Roth (15.1 innings), Price (six), Webb (10), Jordan Montgomery (eight) and Colby Holmes (5.2).
* Price on setting a new record for most career CWS wins with five: "Speechless. I know how many great pitchers have been through the College World Series. Even though I've been coming out of the bullpen probably vulturing some wins, just trying to give our team a chance to win is what matters most to me."
* Matthews on the height of the Arizona pitchers: "I rode the elevator with probably five of their pitchers, and they were all a foot and a half taller than me. They were big boys. I never thought that we'd be playing them in the championship. Hopefully, we'll have a good series, and may the best man win."
* Tanner on his coaching style and approach to young unproven players: "I tell them not to get upset with my coaching style. Just understand that I care about you. You're important to me. But I'm going to try to make some points in the fall. You're talking about recruiting student-athletes that feel good about themselves. But they get yelled at a little bit, their mistakes get emphasized, so they take two steps back and one step forward."
* Prior to naming Koumas as the probable starter for Game 1 of the championship series, Tanner said, "We've pitched really well to get back into this position. We're going to have to have a couple of guys that haven't maybe been on the mound yet to pitch really well."
* Lopez on Tanner: "You're very fortunate to have Ray Tanner as your baseball coach. You really are. He's not only a great coach, he's a great human being, and I've always believed that a team reflects their head coach. I believe that. I heard John Wooden say that."
link: http://southcarolina...asp?CID=1378578
So, which Gamecocks pitcher did the local newspaper in the capital city of college baseball identify as USC's key hurler for the best-of-three national championship series starting tonight against Arizona?
Tyler Webb.
These words in the Omaha World-Herald neatly sum up Webb's contribution to USC's inspiring run through Bracket Two to the finals: "Michael Roth gets the accolades at the front end and Matt Price the props at the back, but it's Webb who has excelled as the Gamecocks' man in the middle."
After a solid regular season, Webb has responded to the pressures of the College World Series with some of the best performances of his career.
Webb has appeared in 38 games this season, second-most in Gamecock history behind only John Taylor's 50 last year, and in three of USC's five contests in Omaha. He has allowed less than one hit per inning (43 in 57 innings), while averaging one strikeout per inning (57 punchouts) with 12 runs allowed. Only eight of the hits against Webb have gone for extra bases.
"He's been good for us the entire year," USC coach Ray Tanner said after Friday's bracket-clinching win. "We've had him in the starting role a few times, but he just seems to thrive coming out of the bullpen. In any situation we give him, whether it's a short stint or a four- or five-inning stint, he just takes it and goes and tries to go at hitters and use both sides of the plate. His velocity has been better in the second half of the season."
The junior left-hander from Nassawadox, Va., has allowed no runs on just four hits with seven strikeouts in 10 innings in Omaha. In USC's come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Arkansas on Friday, Webb served as the bridge between starter Colby Holmes (two innings) and closer Matt Price (three) by throwing four brilliant innings, yielding just two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
He entered the game in the top of the third with runners on second and third with no outs. He limited the damage to one run on a sacrifice fly before combining with Price to shut down the Razorbacks over the final six innings.
"I just tried to play damage-control there. And once we got out of that, with the great catch by Adam (Matthews) and everything, just tried to pound the strike zone and get it to Matt," Webb said.
Webb has not allowed a run in his NCAA tournament career, yielding just six hits in 18.2 innings with 17 strikeouts in 14 appearances. In addition, he has not allowed a run in 14.1 innings at the CWS in seven appearances.
He is holding opponents to a .111 batting average at the College World Series, surrendering just five hits. Last week, he had a 5.1-inning scoreless stint in South Carolina's 2-1 loss to Arkansas.
Webb is the first pitcher to have two separate scoreless relief outings of four innings or more in a single CWS since 1997.
"Since he's a tall left-hander, he's got some downward plane," Tanner noted. "When he's getting some velocity going, he can run a ball up in the zone and it's not easy to stay off. They chase just a little bit. It's not easy to stay off those pitches. He's been outstanding for us, no doubt about it. Look at his numbers throughout the year."
ROTH CREDITS COACHES: When Roth started pitching for USC in 2009, Mark Calvi was the pitching coach. He remained in that role until the end of the 2010 season, when he was named head coach in waiting at South Alabama.
Jerry Meyers returned to USC as pitching coach after six seasons as coach at Old Dominion. Roth has thrived under Meyers' guidance, going 23-4 over the past two seasons.
"I came in with coach Calvi when he was pitching coach. He's a great pitching coach," Roth said. "Then coach Meyers came in last year. Coach Meyers really helped me with my mechanics and my front side and getting that stronger. I think that's helped me gain some velocity and just helped with some location.
"Obviously, it hasn't been the best at times this year. But he's really helped me focus on my mechanics and made me more sound mechanically as the year goes on. And that's a great influence."
Roth is expected to start Game 2 of the national championship series against Arizona on Monday even though he would take the mound with only three days rest. He hurled a complete game two-hitter in the 4-1 win over Kent State on Thursday, retiring the final 22 batters he faced. However, being the competitor he is, Roth will demand the ball.
As fantastic as Roth has been throughout his career, he counts getting the straight-faced Meyers to laugh as another important accomplishment.
"I've gotten him to laugh a couple of times," Roth said. "That's kind of tough. He's pretty straight-faced. But he's a great pitching coach. He's definitely helping me out a lot."
The happy-go-lucky Roth has played an integral role in changing Tanner's mindset as well over the past four years. The coach admits that he's "old-school" but has adjusted to the different nature of ballplayer in an internet-driven, social media-obsessed world.
"From day one, Michael Roth has been exactly what you see. When he tells you that he's not a baseball fan, I doubt he's watched any baseball since he's been here except the games we've been involved in. That's just who he is," Tanner said. "Adam was a lot more serious as a freshman, but he became roommates with Michael. So it took him awhile. But Michael got the best of him. He listened to Michael instead of me. So he made the adjustment."
COMEBACK KIDS: USC has trailed in three of its five games in Omaha, yet finds itself in the national championship series for the third straight year after rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the winner-take-all bracket championship game. The Gamecocks scored a pair of runs in the fifth and the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a bases-loaded walk by Matthews.
The second win over Arkansas in Omaha improved USC to 10-4 when it's tied after six innings, 28-1 when the opponent has scored two or fewer runs this season and 15-13 in one-run games.
"We've been behind a few games," Matthews said. "With that said, you can't just give up. You have to continue to grind it out. As coach Tanner continues to stay in here and continues to tell us on the field, you just have to go out there and try and get on and hopefully get a bunt down and get a big hit. This time of year, it's about who makes the big plays, gets the bunts down and gets the clutch hits. Fortunately, we've been lucky to have a few opportunities where we've scratched a couple big runs."
FAVORABLE FORMAT: Tanner and Arizona coach Andy Lopez prefer the best-of-three championship series format that has been utilized for a decade (first year was 2003) instead of the former single national championship game arrangement preferred by CBS. However, once ESPN gained the exclusive rights to the entire College World Series in 2003, the NCAA designed the new tournament setup, which has generally gotten rave reviews for being fairer to the final two teams.
"I remember we had (Cal State-Fullerton in the 1992 national championship game) and we had three wins and no losses, and they had a loss," Lopez recalled. "I remember waking up that morning going, 'Wait a minute. If they win today, I'll have a loss and they'll have a loss, but they'll have a championship. So do we play another one in Iowa somewhere?' I really like this format. This is a good format. It sets you up for a three-game series and you get a chance to go out and play."
NOTES
* Arizona is second among the eight teams in Omaha with a .277 batting average (31-of-112), while USC is fourth at .229 (36-of-157). Five of the eight CWS teams have team batting averages below .220, another sign of the new age in college baseball. The leading CWS hitter on either team is Arizona right fielder Robert Refsnyder, who is batting .400 (6-of-15) with one home run and three RBIs.
* Another sign: Arizona (1.20 ERA; .992 fielding percentage) and USC (1.60, .995) are ranked first and second in team ERA and team fielding. File that under "not a coincidence." USC has committed one error in five games and turned four double plays.
* USC pitchers have allowed just 26 hits, eight runs and 11 walks in 45 innings at the CWS. It's fanned 38 opposing batters.
* When probable USC starter Forrest Koumas throws his first pitch tonight, he'll officially become the sixth different Gamecock pitcher to make an appearance at the College World Series. Through five games, just five USC hurlers have seen action: Roth (15.1 innings), Price (six), Webb (10), Jordan Montgomery (eight) and Colby Holmes (5.2).
* Price on setting a new record for most career CWS wins with five: "Speechless. I know how many great pitchers have been through the College World Series. Even though I've been coming out of the bullpen probably vulturing some wins, just trying to give our team a chance to win is what matters most to me."
* Matthews on the height of the Arizona pitchers: "I rode the elevator with probably five of their pitchers, and they were all a foot and a half taller than me. They were big boys. I never thought that we'd be playing them in the championship. Hopefully, we'll have a good series, and may the best man win."
* Tanner on his coaching style and approach to young unproven players: "I tell them not to get upset with my coaching style. Just understand that I care about you. You're important to me. But I'm going to try to make some points in the fall. You're talking about recruiting student-athletes that feel good about themselves. But they get yelled at a little bit, their mistakes get emphasized, so they take two steps back and one step forward."
* Prior to naming Koumas as the probable starter for Game 1 of the championship series, Tanner said, "We've pitched really well to get back into this position. We're going to have to have a couple of guys that haven't maybe been on the mound yet to pitch really well."
* Lopez on Tanner: "You're very fortunate to have Ray Tanner as your baseball coach. You really are. He's not only a great coach, he's a great human being, and I've always believed that a team reflects their head coach. I believe that. I heard John Wooden say that."
link: http://southcarolina...asp?CID=1378578
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