OMAHA, Neb. – South Carolina is proof dreams can come true twice.
The Gamecocks made history for the first time last season when they stormed through the College World Series to win the program’s first national title with pitchers Michael Roth and Matt Price leading the charge. The title was extra special because it was the last won at college baseball’s old mecca, historic Rosenblatt Stadium.
This year, with the sport ushering in its new mecca in TD Ameritrade Park in downtown Omaha, the mere thought of the Gamecocks earning back-to-back national titles seemed so far away even for coach Ray Tanner and his staff just last fall.
But after storming through another CWS and sweeping Florida in the title series with a 5-2 victory on Tuesday, the Gamecocks again exceeded expectations by winning back-to-back national titles, just the ninth program in NCAA history to do so.
They can say one thing with authority: They were the last to win the title in Rosenblatt. They’ll always be the first to win the title at TD Ameritrade.
“Crazy isn’t it … two years in a row is crazy,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said immediately after his team received the national title trophy. “It’s hard to understand it. It hasn’t sunk in to me. You work hard, you play hard, you play the best you can for your program, it’s the ultimate in our game. I can’t say enough about the players and coaches in the program.”
The Gamecocks’ road to their second national title was anything but uneventful, and it certainly wasn’t for the weak. They used heroics from senior second baseman Scott Wingo to beat Texas A&M in their CWS opener before beating Virginia comfortably in the first meeting and besting the Cavaliers again with heroics in the second meeting.
The heroics didn’t stop against Florida. In Game 1 against the Gators, freshman right-handed pitcher Forrest Koumas put together a solid start before closer Matt Price, who was operating on two days’ rest and 95 pitches, finished the game and put the exclamation point on a 2-1 victory. The contest also included more acrobatic plays from Wingo.
Ironically, the title clincher lacked the crazy plays and drama that accompanied the Gamecocks throughout the College World Series. But in perfect fashion, the game included tremendous performances from several key ingredients to this team’s success.
Junior left-handed pitcher Michael Roth started his third game in Omaha on Tuesday and was phenomenal yet again. He struck out six batters, walked two and allowed just two runs on five hits in 7 2/3 innings. He threw 127 pitches on three days rest. Amazingly, reliever John Taylor made his 50th appearance of the season.
Then there’s right-handed closer Matt Price. Just a night after willing his way to another solid performance, he was back out there against the Gators. And again, he performed well. Last year, the Gamecocks won the national title on a walk-off hit from veteran Whit Merrifield. But it was fitting on this night for Price to be the guy to record the final out on the mound.
“I can’t imagine another pitcher in college or even professional baseball that has been put in as many tough situations as Price,” Tanner said. “He was in there when the chips were down. I’ve enjoyed the success those guys [Price and Roth] have had. It’s almost like they’ve been unblemished.”
Though South Carolina’s road to another national title will forever be remembered more for what it did in Omaha and the heroics that it carried with it, this national title wasn’t only won in June. This title starting coming together the day the Gamecocks began fall workouts.
Many college baseball programs that win national titles have a tough time responding in a big way the next season. Some players get the taste of a title and simply don’t have the same drive or motivation. The Gamecocks were the opposite.
“The hunger [for a national title] was there at the beginning of the season, actually at the beginning of the fall,” Price said. “I remember seeing Adrian [Morales] the first day of fall workouts and he was telling all the guys to stay hungry.”
Hungry they stayed. But as fall workouts continued and spring began, it was obvious the Gamecocks would need a lot of things to go their way to win back-to-back national titles. They were replacing a pair of starting pitchers in Blake Cooper and Sam Dyson. They also had some key offensive cogs to replace.
“No [on if he thought they would win another national title in the fall], but I thought we had a pretty good team,” South Carolina associate head coach Chad Holbrook said. “What separated us from others a little bit was our makeup, mindset, confidence and we had a lot of guys on the field last year that experienced a national title. When you experience it, you can do it again. No matter the situation, they always felt it. Were we the most talented team? No, not even close. Maybe the toughest team, but we had the highest level of confidence.”
The consistency this team displayed throughout the season is impressive. The Gamecocks were solid in non-conference play, they compiled a fantastic 22-8 SEC record, they won the NCAA Regional with a title game win over Stetson and advanced to the CWS with a dominant NCAA Super Regional showing against Connecticut, a team that a week before made easy work of arch-rival Clemson.
Once in Omaha, the Gamecocks, as usual, took their game to another level. They were down to Texas A&M 4-0 in the top of the first inning, but fought back to win that game. They took care of Virginia and played at a championship level against Florida.
The Gamecocks might not have had the most talented team in Omaha, certainly lacking the star power of national runner-up Florida. But they were a team with experience, a hard-nosed attitude and a feeling that no matter what happened in the course of a game, they were going to win it in the end.
South Carolina is the epitome of college baseball.
It showed the rest of the country dreams could come true. Perhaps even twice.
Kendall Rogers is the college baseball editor for Perfect Game USA and has covered the sport for over 10 seasons. He can be reached at kendall@perfectgame.org