OMAHA, Neb. — Virginia couldn’t recover from the struggles of its first-inning defense.

That was only the start of the Cavaliers’ problems Tuesday night in a 7-1 loss to defending national champion South Carolina at the College World Series.

The first of third baseman Steven Proscia’s two errors, on what should have been an inning-ending groundout, opened the door for three unearned runs.

“Any time you make errors, it’s frustrating, especially when you have a guy on the hill giving it all he’s got,” Proscia said. “I make that play in the first inning, that could change the total complexion of the game. Our defense has been there all year, and we just didn’t have it tonight.”

No. 1 seed Virginia (55-11) must beat California on Thursday to keep playing in Omaha.

Virginia finished with three errors, Will Roberts’ 3 1-3 innings represented his shortest start of the year and the Cavaliers managed only five hits against three South Carolina pitchers.

“We’re obviously disappointed in our play this evening,” coach Brian O’Connor said. “South Carolina, really, quite frankly beat us in every phase of the game. Overall, we just didn’t do the fundamental things that it takes to win a college baseball game at this level.”

For South Carolina (52-14), the win continued one of the greatest runs in NCAA tournament history and put the Gamecocks in the best possible position to return to the best-of-three finals next week.

They won their 13th straight national tournament game, matching the record held by Southern California (1972-74) and LSU (1997-98). They also recorded their fifth win over a No. 1-ranked team.

Don’t mention that to Gamecocks coach Ray Tanner, though.

“I like my team, but I don’t like that talk,” Tanner said. “We line up and we have some good athletes, but there are teams that have better athletes and some better arms.

“Truth of the matter is we have to do things really well to win. We can’t throw our gloves out. We have to pitch and play defense.”