The South Carolina Gamecocks continue to do what they do best and that is win in dramatic fashion. The Gamecocks baseball team defeated the Florida Gators with a 2-1 win in 11 innings before 25,857 fans at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.
The Gamecocks used a similar winning strategy that they used to defeat Virginia in Friday’s win – clutch hitting late and sprinkle in some timely defense, mixed in with some heroics when needed.
The Gamecocks scored the winning run on a hit and thanks to a pair of throwing errors by the Florida defense, that intial hit was the game winner. Sophomore first baseman Christian Walker – playing with a broken bone in his left wrist – laced a one-out single in the top of the eleventh inning. As Walker attempted to steal second base, Florida catcher Mike Zunino threw the ball into centerfield. With Walker heading to third on the error, Gators’ centerfielder Bryson Smith threw the ball into the stands. Walker made a short jog home and the drama was over. USC wins game one of the CWS Championship Series.
USC reliever John Taylor picked up the win to improve to 8-1 and SC’s Matt Price earned his 19th save. Gators reliever Nick Maronde took the loss to fall to 0-1. The Gamecocks (54-15) are now in position to become only the sixth team ever to win back-to-back CWS championships. Florida (53-18) now must beat the defending champs in back-to-back games in order to claim the school’s first CWS crown.
USC has now tied the NCAA mark for consecutive postseason (15) and CWS (10) wins – records it could break by beating the Gators on Tuesday to claim another CWS crown.
Here is video highlights via ESPN –
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