RALEIGH, N.C. — All year the South Carolina baseball team has relied on prolific bats to keep them in games.

On Sunday, it cost them the season.

N.C. State beat USC (40-23) 2-1 in a pitchers’ duel at the Raleigh Regional in the NCAA tournament.

“We tried to make it interesting and battle hard,” USC coach Ray Tanner said. “We got a great pitching performance from Will (Atwood) and the bullpen but they stopped our offense a little bit. We weren’t able to make it anymore interesting than it was.”

In fact, it took USC shortstop Reese Havens hitting a two-run walk-off in the first game of the day to beat James Madison 7-5 to just advance to the night game.

The Wolfpack (41-20) broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh with a bases-loaded infield single by Matt Payne that scored Chris Schaffer and advanced N.C. State to next week’s super regionals against the Georgia Tech-Georgia regional winner.

USC was shut down by Wolfpack starter Eric Surkamp, who allowed one run on two hits through four innings.

After falling behind in the top of the seventh, USC’s best chance to rally came in the bottom of the inning. South Carolina’s Justin Smoak, who hit two home runs in the win over JMU, flied out to center field with runners on the corners.

“They were going away, away, away,” Smoak said about the at-bat. “I got a good pitch to hit, but I got under it. It happens.”

The Wolfpack bullpen, which had its 12 1/3-inning hitless streak broken in the seventh, didn’t allow a base runner the final two innings.

The Gamecocks’ only run of the game came on the first pitch of the day when Havens picked up where he left off in the early game with another home run. Catcher Kyle Enders was 2-for-4 as the team was held to three hits.

USC’s Will Atwood (5-4) recorded the loss in a strong 6 2/3 innings with two runs on five hits, including a return to the mound after a 1 hour and 19-minute weather delay in the bottom of the fifth.

Smoak’s 61st and 62nd career home runs in Game 1 put him alone in fifth place on the SEC’s all-time career home run list, passing Alabama’s Andy Phillips and Mississippi State’s Will Clark. The junior, a likely top-10 pick in this week’s MLB draft, finished the season with 23 dingers and tied Joe Dayton for second on the school’s all-time home runs in a season list.

But, the offense was unable to carry over against the Wolfpack as Tanner’s team finished its ninth consecutive season with 40 wins — the longest active streak in the SEC.

“We just weren’t good enough tonight,” Tanner said. “We played hard and fought hard but they did a better job pitching.”