In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run. Today, we celebrate the first major National Championship in school history.

PING

I don’t need to see the video to hear that sound in my head. That pre-BBCOR bat sound. That beautiful sound that meant Whit Merrifield had made solid contact on a 2-0 pitch with the winning run on third. The sound that signified something very good had happened. 

“Line drive right field base hit!”

I let out some unintelligible sound, something between a “YEAHHHH!” and an “AHHHHHH!”

“South Carolina wins the College World Series!”

I stood there with with my hands on my head, silent. I didn’t cry, but there were definitely tears in my eyes as I watched the celebration unfold. 

It was the most stressful sporting event I’ve ever watched, knowing how important one measley run was for the entire game. Both pitching staffs throwing like the fate of the free world was at stake. 

For the Gamecocks it was Roth, Mata, Webb, and Taylor combining to limit UCLA to one run over 8 1/3 innings. Then it was Matt Price for the final 2 2/3. 

My God, Matt Price. Will we ever see anything like him again? The dominance. The escapes. The primal screams. Then the look. That look like he was pissed off he didn’t get three outs on nine swinging strikes. 

But Gamecock fans might not remember that Dan Klein of the Bruins was just as good, going 3 1/3 innings, allowing only one hit – the hit that ended the game. 

UCLA could’ve played that final inning by the book. They could’ve walked Merrifield and Jackie Bradley to face Christian Walker and set up a double play. But they decided going after Merrifield was their best bet. 

Merrifield said when he saw the catcher squat down, he realized they were pitching to him. He said at that point he had something to prove. 

I remember having a strange thought just then. I thought “don’t end this on something stupid”, like a passed ball or an error. I knew the result would be the same, but I wanted us to win it, not them to lose it. I wanted nothing less than a solid base hit we could always remember. 

Then…

PING

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run. Today, the Gamecocks move within a game of the title with a 7-1 thrashing of UCLA.

It was a running theme throughout South Carolina’s three-year run in Omaha – they’re good, but the University of <insert name here> is loaded. The Gamecocks have no chance.

That was pretty much the story as USC prepared to take on UCLA in the National Championship Series. First, we had to face the Bruins’ rested, flame-throwing Gerrit Cole while we countered with Blake Cooper, whose fastball topped out at 86 mph on his best day. After that loss, if we could somehow miraculously squeeze out a victory in Game 2 then we had to go up against UCLA’s other major-leaguer-in-waiting, the flaky Trevor Bauer.

The Gamecocks pounced early in Game 1 against Cole, scoring five runs in the first three innings on a series of bunts, bleeders, duck snorts (thanks Coach Tanner) and Bruin miscues. Meanwhile, light-hitting Bobby Haney was the offensive star of the night, going 2-3 and driving in three runs. 

But the story was Cooper. Working on three days rest for the second time in the tournament, he admitted he didn’t have his best stuff. But the arm fatigue turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Cooper said he felt his fastball had more sink on it and the UCLA hitters had trouble squaring it up. He cruised through eight innings giving up only three hits and one run. John Taylor finished the Bruins off in the ninth for a 7-1 Gamecock victory, and they were one win away from their first National Championship. 

After all the drama of the Oklahoma and Clemson games, it was nice to have a relative “breather” in the first game of the championship series. 

But drama was just around the corner. In spades. 

NEXT: CWS Championship Game 2 – Glory

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run. Today, South Carolina clinches a trip to the championship series with a second consecutive victory over Clemson.

Could you really top this given the circumstances? Our beloved Gamecocks rallying out of the loser’s bracket to win four consecutive elimination games and earn a spot in the National Championship series. And on top of that, TWICE beating Clemson, our hated rival, a team which only days earlier sat in the driver’s seat to earn that very same opportunity. It was heaven.

But, in contrast to the previous night, this time the Tigers didn’t go down without a significant fight.

In the bottom of the 7th, with two out, the score tied at 2-2 and a runner on third, the Tigers decided to walk hot-hitting Jackie Bradley to face freshman Christian Walker. Walker had already homered earlier in the game and was developing a penchant for clutch hitting, so it was obvious Jack Leggett felt he was choosing the lesser of two evils.

Walker came through, hitting a bullet into center field that scored Evan Marzilli. Adrian Morales followed with a two-out hit of his own, and the Gamecocks had a seemingly comfortable 4-2 lead with super-closer Matt Price on the mound.

But the Tigers pushed across a run in the top of the 8th after a brutal collision between Scott Wingo and Whit Merrifield delayed the game for five minutes. And then a bizarre series of events made this Gamecock fan briefly wonder if a not-to-be-named curse was actually real.

Price retired the first two batters in the top of the ninth on a strikeout and a groundout. One out from advancing to play for the National Championship, Clemson’s Mike Freeman lifted a fly ball down the left field line. Marzilli, an outstanding defender, looked like he had a play in foul territory. But as he ran over, he encountered the Rosenblatt bullpen mounds. And he tripped. And the ball hit the ground.

Gulp.

Then Freeman lined the next pitch into center field for a base hit. The tying run was on base, and the go-ahead run was in the batter’s box.

Double gulp.

Fortunately the torturous mind-screw didn’t last long, as Jeff Schaus of Clemson swung at the very next pitch. It took a diving stop by first-baseman Walker, but he jumped up, stepped on first base, and the celebration was on. South Carolina was two games from a National Championship.

NEXT: CWS Game 7: One Step Closer    

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run. Today we look at the first of two games against rival Clemson. 

Prior to their arrival in Omaha, if I had asked you in June of 2010 to name as many members of the South Carolina baseball team as possible, there are a lot of names that would have rolled off your tongue.

Bradley, Walker, Dyson, Cooper, Wingo, Merrifield, Morales, Haney, Price…

Then you would’ve dug a little deeper.

Thomas, Enders, Marzilli, Mata, Jones…

Then you might have started to struggle a little.

Uh, Bangs, Brown, Ebert…

One name you probably would have struggled to come up with was Michael Roth. I know, you diehards stop yelling at the screen, I realize there are some of you who could recite the roster, jersey numbers, statistics, etc., etc., but you know what I’m getting at.

Michael Roth was way down the list of guys you would’ve picked to be our savior at the 2010 College World Series.

After our dramatic win over Oklahoma in 12 innings, USC had to face a harsh reality. We were playing a Clemson team that was undefeated at the CWS and well-rested, only needing to win one of two games against USC to advance to the finals. When Ray Tanner looked at what was left of our pitching staff after two elimination game victories, he couldn’t have felt good about it. No Dyson, no Cooper, no Price…no chance?

His options basically boiled down to senior Jay Brown, and sophomores Steven Neff and Michael Roth. I was a Jay Brown man myself, believing his starting experience would serve us well in that tough environment. But I was more than a little surprised, and maybe even a little upset, when Tanner chose Roth. Even Tanner later admitted he hoped “(Roth) would give us a chance to win through three or four innings, and we’d figure out what we were going to do (after that).”

All Roth did was throw a complete game 3-hitter, giving up only one run to the Tigers. He was magnificent, changing speeds and arm angles for nine innings, baffling the Clemson batters. Meanwhile, the Gamecock offense scored single runs in five of the first six innings and cruised to a stunning 5-1 win to force a winner take all game in their half of the CWS bracket. The other thing Roth did was give the USC pitching staff and bullpen all the rest they would need for the rest of the tournament.

Roth’s performance put the Gamecocks on even terms with the Tigers in terms of games, but there was no doubt USC took a mental advantage into the game two nights later. The ghosts of 2002 were now at Rosenblatt in full force.

NEXT: CWS Game 6: Owning Clemson

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run. Today we look at USC’s incredible comeback win over Oklahoma. 

There was really not much in the history of South Carolina sports to foreshadow what happened on the night of June 24, 2010. For the most part, Gamecock sports was characterized predominantly by its mediocrity. There were some very good teams, but with very few exceptions (women’s track anyone?), never great teams. There were bushels of average teams, and downright awful teams from time to time.

But on this night, something unexpected and quite wonderful happened – a great team emerged in Omaha. We didn’t exactly know it at the time as we were still in loser’s bracket hell, facing the long odds of beating a red-hot Clemson team twice with a severely depleted pitching staff. But in retrospect, June 24, 2010 changed everything.

If you’re like me, you’ve seen Jackie Bradley’s game-tying and Brady Thomas’s game-winning singles innumerable times. I’ve linked the entire bottom of the 12th inning below, and it’s worth a watch. Again. And again.

For a second time in the 2010 CWS, USC struggled to score runs against the Sooners, finally squeezing across a run in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game at 1-1. When OU’s Tyler Ogle homered off of Ethan Carter to lead off the 12th inning to give the Sooners a 2-1 lead, things looked bleak for the Gamecocks.

But that only set the stage two of the most clutch hits in school history. A few things of note from the bottom of that 12th inning:

• The Gamecocks were facing Oklahoma closer Ryan Duke, who needed one save to become the all-time leader in that category in school history. He had tied the school record with a save against USC the previous Sunday night.
• Free-swinger Robert Beary was the first batter of the bottom of the 12th, and looked completely over-matched on the first two pitches from Duke. Duke blew a fastball by him, then completely caught him off guard with a breaking pitch on the outside corner. Obviously, Beary made up his mind that Duke was going to come back with the fastball. He did, and instead wasting it outside like he was supposed to, he missed inside and Beary laced it into left for a leadoff hit.
• Freshman Evan Marzilli was  a revelation in Omaha, but he had his worst at-bat of the CWS trying to move Beary to second. (Ray Tanner’s reaction after Marzilli’s first bunt attempt is priceless.) After Marzilli struck out, Beary took things into his own hands and swiped second. Whit Merrifield then popped out to third to put the Gamecocks one out away from elimination. (Don’t worry, if I remember correctly Merrifield gets a clutch hit in a later game.)
• Jackie Bradley was next up, and was 0-5 as he stood in the box after starting the CWS 5-8 with two home runs and six RBI. With the count 2-2, Duke came inside with a fastball that was close enough that you see Duke pump his fist and audibly yell “YEAH!”. It was a ball.
• On the next pitch JBJ calmly guided one through the right side to bring home Beary with the tying run. It was a great, clutch hit with our season down to its last strike, but the winning run was still 270 feet away.
• Jeffery Jones was next up as a pinch-hitter and a shell-shocked Duke walked him on four pitches. Jones was a muscle-bound dude who was a significant contributor during the regular season, but this was his only contribution during the CWS that I can remember. (Also absent except in celebration videos – Nick Ebert, who was second team all-SEC in 2009.)
• Almost as much as what happened next on the field, I remember the words of Sean McDonough: “We spoke with Coach Tanner this morning and he said Brady Thomas always gives you a very competitive at bat, and he is a clutch hitter. Couldn’t have a bigger spot to come up to in the clutch for South Carolina.”

The next sound you hear is the ping of the bat and the ball shooting into center field.

“AND SOUTH CAROLINA WINS, AND THEY’RE STILL ALIVE”

If Beary, Bradley, or Thomas hadn’t come up with those big hits, it wouldn’t have been terribly shocking to us as Gamecock fans. It would’ve just been another very good team that came up short. Instead, all those clutch at-bats gave us hope that something special might be going on.

Until we looked in the bullpen and saw the wreckage that was left of our pitching staff.

NEXT: CWS Game 4 – The Situational Lefty

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run. Today we look back at Carolina’s first win in Omaha in 2010, a cakewalk over Arizona State.

On a sunny, lazy Tuesday afternoon in Omaha, South Carolina decided early on against top-ranked and top-seeded Arizona State that it wasn’t interested in going home yet. Jackie Bradley and Adrian Morales each homered in an 8-run second inning, and Sam Dyson’s pitched 7 1/3 innings of stellar baseball in the Gamecocks 11-4 elimination game victory.

While the ASU game proved to be an easy victory over a formidable opponent, there was still a considerable uphill climb ahead of USC. Clemson would defeat Oklahoma later that night, putting the Tigers firmly in the drivers seat in our/their half of the bracket. Meanwhile, Carolina would get a return engagement against OU, but this time with the end of the season on the line.

Even worse, Clemson could sit back and relax while the Gamecocks and Sooners exhausted their pitching staffs. Clemson would be fresh and ready for the winner of that game on Thursday night, knowing they would have two attempts to win one game to earn a trip to the CWS championship series.

For South Carolina fans the nightmare scenario was alive and well – be sent home by Clemson, and watch them go on to win the national title.

But first, we had to deal with Oklahoma.

Next: CWS Game 3 – Miracle in Omaha

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run. Today we look at the first game of the CWS, and first of two against Oklahoma. 

My personal feeling of “just happy to be here” had worn off exactly one week after the Gamecocks secured their first trip to Omaha since 2004. Our half of the College World Series bracket looked daunting – top-ranked Arizona State, 50-win Oklahoma, and a Clemson team that had taken 2 of 3 from us in March, including a humiliating 19-6 loss on our home field – but I had convinced myself this team was capable of making a run.

We were to open with the Sooners on Sunday afternoon, but as I tuned in to ESPN it was obvious the game was going to be delayed for a while. And boy was it ever.

The game was initially delayed for four hours, and then was halted again for two more hours with Oklahoma clinging to a 3-2 lead. Aside from two homers, one each by Christian Walker and Jackie Bradley, the Gamecock offense was stymied for most of the night.

Down 4-2 in the eighth, USC was able to load the bases with two outs, but the threat ended with a Brady Thomas line out to end the inning.  Then they loaded them again in the ninth, but with one out Whit Merrifield fouled out to the third baseman. After a walk to Bradley to cut the lead to 4-3, Adrian Morales cut on the first pitch he saw and flew out to center to end the game and drop the Gamecocks into the loser’s bracket.

The story of the game, besides the interminable rain delays, was South Carolina’s inability to get a big hit with runners in scoring position. (As you well know, that inability wouldn’t last long as there were some huge clutch hits to come.)

To make matters worse, Clemson took down #1 Arizona State the next day in a surprising upset. So here we were in the loser’s bracket, knowing that an extended stay in Omaha would have to include at least one win over our hated rival.

As some would say, the situation was not ideal.

Next: Game 2 of the 2010 CWS – Taking Out Some Frustration

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of South Carolina’s 2010 baseball National Championship, TRC is briefly recapping each game of the magical postseason run, beginning with their Super Regional-clinching victory over Coastal Carolina. 

I was actually on vacation in Myrtle Beach on June 13, 2010. It was the second day of my family’s annual trek to the Grand Strand. We had listened to every nerve-wracking second of South Carolina’s 4-3 victory over Coastal Carolina the previous day during our 8-hour drive, and I actually considered going to game two in person. But the combination of 100 degree temperatures and the minor detail that it was sold slap out relegated me to my condo and a seat inches away from a 20-inch television.

Coastal was far from a pushover, entering the Super Regional with a 55-9 record and earning the privilege to host the series in scorching-hot Myrtle Beach. Many believed the Chanticleers were the best team in the state in 2010.

After being shut down for most of the previous day courtesy of strong pitching performances from Blake Cooper and Matt Price, Coastal broke out the bats in game two and chased now-major-leaguer Sam Dyson after just an inning and a third. The Chants were relentless on offense, hitting three home runs and scoring in six of nine innings. They carried a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning, needing only six outs to force a third game in the series.

After a Robert Beary leadoff walk in the bottom of the 8th, Whit Merrifield grounded into what appeared to be a back-breaking double play, and the Gamecocks were down to four outs with no one on base. Jackie Bradley, Jr. drew a walk next, and Adrian Morales doubled to deep left to put runners at second and third for Christian Walker.

Walker fell behind 1-2, and then proceeded to hit arguably the most important home run in Gamecock history.

Matt Price set down Coastal in order in the top of the ninth to send South Carolina to their first College World Series since 2004.

As for me, I’ve never enjoyed a game on a 20-inch TV quite as much as that one. And at that time, just getting to the CWS was good enough for me. Little did I, and I suspect we, know what we had in store over the next two weeks.

Next: Game 1 of the 2010 CWS – The Longest Day