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COLUMBIA – Senior left-hander Michael Roth carried a shutout into the ninth inning with a career-high 10 strikeouts and Kyle Martin and Evan Marzilli each had three hits apiece as second ranked South Carolina edged out Princeton 2-1 on Friday at Carolina Stadium. 

The victory marked head coach Ray Tanner’s 700th win at South Carolina.  The Gamecocks are 11-1 on the year while Princeton drops to 2-3 for the season.  Game two of the series is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Roth was in control the entire night as he limited the Tigers to just one run on six hits with no walks.  Roth is now 2-0 on the year.  Freshman right-hander Evan Beal came on with two outs and a runner on second base in the ninth inning and struck out the lone batter he faced for his first career save.

"That game was much of what I expected it to be,” said South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner.  “We are very fortunate to be able to hang on there at the end, we had some run-scoring opportunities, maybe to get a few more and they were able to get big outs when they needed to. That game was much as I expected it to be and Michael Roth did a tremendous job for us with the effort he gave us tonight and it was great to see (Evan) Beal come in and get that final out."

Martin put the Gamecocks on the scoreboard with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.  He drove a 2-1 pitch from Hermans over the right field wall to give the Gamecocks a one-run cushion.  The home run for Martin was his first in a Gamecock uniform.

The lead increased to 2-0 in the sixth inning with a run off of Princeton reliever Kevin Link.  The Gamecocks got a leadoff single by Adam Matthews followed by Martin’s third hit of the game, a base hit into right field.  With one out, Connor Bright knocked a RBI base hit through the left side scoring Matthews.

Princeton made things interesting in the ninth inning with a leadoff single by Matt Bowman and after a wild pitch advanced Bowman and Sam Mulroy into scoring position, Mike Ford drove in Bowman with a RBI ground out to Bright at shortstop.  With Mulroy still on second base, the Gamecocks summoned Beal, who set down pinch hitter Ryan Albert in five pitches with a strikeout to preserve the Gamecock victory.

Coach Tanner reflected on his 700th win at South Carolina.

"I'm extremely grateful to be in this position, the number I wasn't really aware of it until yesterday when somebody mentioned it,” said Coach Tanner.  “I've said many times, I have the best job in the country and I'm certainly appreciative of the former players, the players now, and the coaches that have been with me. I'm enjoying a great opportunity and it's a number that is good for the whole program, it's not about me, I never made any plays, got any hits, or made any pitches.”

(USC sports information contributed to this report.)