OMAHA, Neb. – Championship teams just happen to play their best brand of baseball at the College World Series.
In a very familiar sight if you watched last year’s CWS, South Carolina is back in Omaha, and it’s doing exactly the things it did to win the program’s first national title just a year ago.
Time will tell if this team once again finishes the job, but it’s certainly safe to say they’re in tremendous shape after cruising to a 7-1 victory over Virginia, the top seeded team in Omaha.
In the Gamecocks' CWS opening win over Texas A&M on Sunday, they fought back from a slow start and won the contest on Scott Wingo's ninth-inning heroics.
Heroics weren't needed in the ninth inning against the Cavaliers, but they were present throughout the contest, whether it was starting pitcher Colby Holmes making a big pitch, someone at the plate such as surprising four-hole hitter Jackie Bradley Jr., getting a key hit, or the entire infield routinely making acrobatic plays.
The keys to the Bracket Two driver's seat were up for grabs. South Carolina left little doubt as to who's in charge, at least for now.
"We played probably one of our better games of the year tonight. We certainly needed it considering we were playing a team like that," South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. “We really can’t play better than that.”
South Carolina wasted little time showing whom was in charge against the Cavaliers.
Virginia starting pitcher, right-hander Will Roberts, was riding high entering the contest. The last time out against UC Irvine, he allowed just a run on five hits in 7 1/3 strong innings.
He never got into a groove against the Gamecocks. Roberts allowed three runs in the first inning on RBI doubles from Jackie Bradley and Brady Thomas, while third baseman Adrian Morales added an RBI single in the inning.
Before the Cavaliers could catch their breath, they were down 3-0 to a team with a starting pitcher in Colby Holmes who was lighting up the strike zone with good control and fastballs, and a club playing near perfect defense.
The Gamecocks had the perfect recipe for success. The Cavaliers? Not so much.
"South Carolina really beat us in every phase of the game tonight," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "Overall, we just didn't do the fundamental things that it takes to win a college baseball game at this level and South Carolina did. They got a bunch of clutch hits and took advantage of their opportunities."
On the mound, the Gamecocks took advantage of the services of several pitchers, especially starter Colby Holmes and reliever John Taylor.
Holmes hit the 92 mph mark in the first inning and put together a solid performance, striking out a career-high seven batters and allowing just a run on four hits in 4 1/3 innings to earn his seventh win of the season.
"I really felt good coming out of the bullpen [before the game]," Holmes said. "I had my pitches working, especially first pitch strikes, and I felt like I was doing a good job of keeping my pitches down in the zone, while throwing off speed [pitches] for strikes."
The Gamecocks also relied heavily on right-handed submariner John Taylor, who amazingly, made his 47th appearance of the season in the contest. Taylor had his career-long performance for the Gamecocks, allowing just a hit in 4 1/3 innings, while closer Matt Price recorded the final out of the game.
"Taylor really tied us in some knots, and we couldn't get good enough good swings or momentum going against him," O'Connor said. "We haven't been in the position we were in today much this season. I can probably count them on one hand. It only has been a couple of times."
To advance to the national title series, the Cavaliers now have some work to do. They must beat gritty California for a second time in this tournament, then must knock off South Carolina twice.
In other words, the Gamecocks are in excellent shape, granted they continue to play like they have the past two games.
South Carolina is playing an amazing brand of baseball at exactly the right time.
And somehow, we really shouldn't be surprised.
"It feels good [to be 2-0 in Omaha], it puts you in a good spot, but I know we're a long way from where we want to be," Jackie Bradley said. "We're not taking anything for granted, but we know we're in a good situation right now. We're going to take advantage of it as much as possible."
Game in a nutshell
Player of the game: South Carolina RHP John Taylor -- Gamecocks starting pitcher Colby Holmes gave his team 4 1/3 strong innings, then turned things over to reliever John Taylor. Taylor, amazingly, made his 47th appearance of the season and looked good doing it. He allowed just a hit and no runs in 4 1/3 innings to earn his seventh win of the season. The Gamecocks have arguably the nation’s best one-two bullpen punch with Taylor and hard-throwing Matt Price leading the way.
Turning point: Setting the tone early is a big part of college baseball and the Gamecocks did that from the get-go against Virginia. The Gamecocks got off to a phenomenal start by scoring three runs in the first inning to take a 3-0 advantage. It's a lead the Gamecocks never relinquished. Jackie Bradley and Brady Thomas each had RBI doubles in the first inning, while third baseman Adrian Morales had an RBI single. South Carolina set the tone for the game in the first.
Where both teams stand: South Carolina couldn't be in better position at this juncture. Virginia and California must play an elimination game with the winner needing to beat the Gamecocks twice to advance to the national title series. No matter who the Gamecocks play, there's a good chance freshman starting pitcher Forrest Koumas gets the start. Koumas has yet to throw in Omaha and has a 3.07 ERA in 67 1/3 innings. He also has struck out 59 and walked 28 and teams are hitting him at a .234 clip ... Virginia, meanwhile, will face Cal for the right to stay alive on Thursday. The Cavaliers will send veteran right-handed pitcher Tyler Wilson to the mound. Wilson threw great in relief against Cal in their CWS opener and will enter the contest with a fantastic 2.33 ERA in 96 2/3 innings. The Cavaliers likely would lean on left-handed stud pitcher Danny Hultzen against the Gamecocks should they defeat the Golden Bears.
Q & A with South Carolina coach Ray Tanner
Jackie Bradley Jr. has returned to your lineup and done a great job his first two games back from the injury. Your thoughts on his amazing road back?
Tanner: It’s honestly amazing to me. I’ve watched it and tracked it on a daily basis. I’ve watched him condition, then take dry swings, then hit off a tee, then throw soft toss, then finally go in there and do some batting practice. Cardio and fielding wise he has been OK for a while, but he hadn’t played in 27 games, so that’s about 100 at bats that he was missing out there. But the last two games, he has squared up 3 or 4 balls and that’s really hard to do after the road he has taken to get to this point. You have pitches coming in there, breaking, sliding, 90-plus mph. I’ve simply been amazed.
With the way you’ve won two games here at the College World Series, is it kind of giving you the feeling of 2010 all over again?
Tanner: I’ll leave that up to you guys [he said with a smile]. The thing about this team is, we have enough players that have been here, and that most certainly helps us. That doesn’t mean we’re always going to win, but it probably means we’re not going to have anxiety or lack of attention. Like the other night against Texas A&M. They put up a four-spot in the first inning, then our guys sit back and say OK, settled down and let’s do enough to make it a game at the end. That kind of attitude takes real maturity and experience. We feel like we can win, but we don’t feel like it’s an automatic thing. We know we have to play out there. We have to do special things to get into position to win.
Reliever John Taylor has done an amazing job this season and in the College World Series. Can you talk about the job and role he has with the team?
Tanner: We started out last season with he and Jose Mata just trying to get some outs late in games. Mata had a few more appearances than John last season, but it’s kind of reversed this year and John has been pretty special. He’s one of those guys that 4 1/3 innings isn’t normal for him, he’s usually a one time through the order type of guy to give a team a different look. It’s unorthodox [his motion] to see that. I was watching a big league game the other night and noticed a submariner throwing 82-83 mph just like him, so it’s just one of those deals where hitters have to make some serious adjustments. Those guys like John are hard to square up when they first come into the game. There are certain balls that sink, then they’ll throw a slider that’s almost like a rise ball sometimes. As a hitter you start thinking a little and it’s really frustrating to hit against a guy like that.
Shortstop Peter Mooney has played well this season, and especially in the postseason. What makes him such a special player?
Tanner: I thought we could get a solid player in there with Mooney. I saw him all fall and figured out real quick he was a pretty good player. When you’re first going through something in athletics, there’s a comfort zone you have to get to, and he scuffled a little in the early going. He’s a really good player, though. In the fall, I really emphasized a few things with him in comparison to former shortstop Bobby Haney. I told him he has a better arm and range than Bobby, but there are things he could do better. For instance, Haney did a tremendous job of charging the ball like a lot of Latin players because of the playing surfaces they deal with. He really has done a great job of cutting down on the distance he has to move and throws. He’s not sitting back anymore and he was sitting back in the fall because he had great hands and a tremendous arm. But as I told him, the way Haney played it is the way the great ones play the position. He gets it now and has some impressive abilities.
Can you talk about the job starting pitcher Colby Holmes did against the Cavaliers?
Tanner: I thought Colby had a pretty good game. He collected seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings, and that’s pretty good. I wanted to get six innings out of him and we ended up making a move to get him out of there after the bases were loaded to get him a few groundballs. He only was going to go a few more pitches anyway. He really did a nice job of keeping the ball down in the zone most of the night.
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