South Carolina played UCLA in a best of three championship series for the last National Championship to be won at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Gamecocks swept the series by winning the first game 7-1 and the second 2-1 in 11 innings
For more detail on the games themselves, see Flounder’s write-ups on Game 1 and Game 2.
What to take away from this…Like you need to be told – pure joy. This championship was the ultimate goal for this team, this program and this university. This is our championship, and it should be celebrated. Coach Tanner and all the players should be congratulated on their accomplishment and the way in which they did it. This is a team that fought through early season adversity after tough weekends against East Carolina and Clemson, and then went through a brutal SEC slate before climbing the mountain in Omaha. The entire way they played as a team and handled themselves on and off the field in a manner that should make everyone associated with the University proud to be associated with them.
Stars of the Final Series…Blake Cooper outdueled UCLA star Gerrit Cole by pitching 8 innings of 3 hit, 10 strikeout baseball. Cooper was pitching on short rest for the second time in a row…Michael Roth made a second start and gave up only 1 run in 5 innings of work putting the Gamecocks in position to win…Matt Price pitched 2 2/3 innings of one hit baseball without allowing a run at a time when USC couldn’t afford to allow one…John Taylor pitched in both games without allowing a base runner…Evan Marzilli went 4 for 9 with an RBI and a big sacrifice bunt in the 11th…Whit Merrifield only had 2 hits in the 2 games, but his second was the national championship winning RBI…Christian Walker was 4-9…Brady Thomas was 2 for 4 with an RBI…Bobby Haney was 4 for 8 with 3 RBI.
This and that…South Carolina won their first National Title in baseball in their fourth appearance in the National Title Game…USC tied the game in the 8th inning last night, which was the same inning it tied the elimination game against Oklahoma…With the win on Tuesday South Carolina finishes the season 54-16…54 wins it the third most in program history…In the Super Regionals and College World Series, USC went 8-1 against teams with RPIs of 1,2,5,17 and 18. (USC’s is 8)…It may be a bit early, but the 2010’s is currently the winningest decade by percentage, .771, improving on the previous best of .708 in the 1970’s.
Up next…Celebration. There will be a public celebration at Carolina Stadium to welcome the team back at 4:45 pm on Wednesday. It will be open to the public and free. Gates open at 4 pm with concessions available. There will be an autograph session and a replay of Tuesday night’s game on the video board.
Check back with leftoverhotdog.com for more on this historic season.
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