Gamecocks win 2-1 to take College World Series
In a thriller of a game, the South Carolina Gamecocks beat UCLA to become the winners of the 2010 College World Series. It took all of 11 innings, when a single off the bat of Whit Merrifield knocked in the winning run, allowing Scott Wingo to score from third base.
The CWS win is South Carolina's first ever, after years of missed opportunities and narrow finishes. They'd been to the annual event, designed to determine the best U.S college or university baseball team, three other times in 1975, 19'77 and 2002, but were never able to achieve success as they did on Tuesday.
They almost came up short again this year as well. They were down 1-0 after the fifth innings, and had failed to capitalize on many opportunities. They left runners in scoring position at the end of the first, second, fifth and sixth innings as UCLA starter Rob Rasmussen repeatedly got himself out of trouble to give his team the chance to win. UCLA had lost the opening game of the best-of-three series, meaning Rasmussen was fighting to give his team the chance to take it to a decisive third game.
But it wasn't to be. In the eighth innings with one out, the Gamecocks finally evened up the score when an error off the glove of Dean Espy let pinch-runner Robert Beary score from second base. Sloppy fielding also cost them the winning run, as Wingo had been able to advance from second to third on a missed ball that catcher Steve Rodriguez should have caught.
"We just could not come up with the big hit," UCLA head coach John Savage said. "That was the story the last two nights."
They had an opportunity in the ninth innings to take the lead again with the bases loaded, but Matt Price pitched himself out of a jam and managed to stay in the game long enough to win it.
A long season over
After the game, coach Ray Tanner spoke of what it meant to finally win after a long, tough season.
"You start in February with 300 teams and you get a chance to go to postseason, and maybe to a super regional, and then you have things go right for you and you go to Omaha," Tanner said. "And you get to play in the national championship series. And you're the last team standing. Just a wonderful, wonderful time for our players and coaches."
The Gamecocks' CWS got off to a bad start when they were defeated in their opening game. But they bounced back in their second round-robin game with a victory over the no. 1 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. They didn't lose a game for the rest of the tournament, finishing a total of 6-1 to end their season at 54-16 for the year.
The event is held every year in Omaha, Neb., and for the past 61 years has been held at Rosenblatt Stadium. But the Gamecocks will be the last team to win the World Series at Rosenblatt, as by next year a new stadium will be built.
"It dawned on me, it would be wonderful to go deep into this thing and be around at the end," Tanner said. "I know the new stadium will be very special and a great facility.
"But this is history. And we'll be a part of the College World Series and Rosenblatt for a long, long time."
Jackie Bradley Jr. CWS MVP
He didn't have much of a game on Tuesday, but Jackie Bradley, Jr., the centre fielder for the Gamecocks, saw his strong play rewarded throughout the tournament by being crowned the CWS 2010 Most Valuable Player.
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