South Carolina Baseball: Ranking the top-15 pitchers in Gamecock history
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Baseball’s Greatest Pitcher of All-Time:
Michael Roth
Michael Roth (2009-2012) arrived at the University of South Carolina without a clear plan of how he was going to be used by Ray Tanner and the Gamecock coaching staff. Would he be a first baseman? Would he pitch? Would he try to do both?
After not much success as a pinch hitter early in his career, Roth settled into a relief role for Carolina and had a decent freshman campaign. He made just two starts that season, and in one of them, he got rocked by the College of Charleston. No one knew what was soon to come for the lefty from Greenville.
A dominant sophomore season out of the bullpen gave way to one of the greatest College World Series of all time. After pitching two scoreless appearances against Oklahoma, Roth got the start against Clemson in Omaha without any rest. In what was supposed to be a short start, #29 embarrassed the Tigers to the tune of 3 hits allowed over 9 innings to send Clemson back home to South Carolina and move the Gamecocks on to the Championship Series.
Roth had another great start in the Championship-clinching victory over UCLA and rode that momentum to one of the best seasons ever from a Gamecock pitcher in 2011 as a junior. Roth put together a 14-3 campaign with a 1.06 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He gave up more than three runs just once all season and held opponents scoreless 9 times, including a stretch of five in a row from the SEC Tournament through the beginning of the College World Series.
After Roth’s Gamecocks dominated their way to a second-straight championship in 2011, he “regressed” to a 2.43 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 2012 en route to his second-straight All-American honor. Now known as one of the best postseason pitchers in college baseball history, Roth was incredible again in the College World Series, but USC fell to Arizona in the Championship Series.
Despite spending almost half of his career as a reliever, Roth finished his time in college in the top-10 in Gamecock history in ERA, WHIP, appearances, and innings pitched, and he is, without a doubt, the best postseason pitcher to ever wear the interlocking SC on his hat. After graduation, he had a brief career in professional baseball.