South Carolina starting pitcher Blake Cooper. Image Via: AP Photo/Nati Harnik

When you only allow two runs in two games, it’s a safe bet that you’re going to win a lot of baseball games. And behind a stellar pitching performance, the South Carolina Gamecocks just won the biggest game of them all.

With a dramatic 2-1, 11-inning victory, South Carolina beat the UCLA Bruins two games to none in the best-of-three College World Series Championship.

Read the rest of this entry »

The South Carolina Gamecocks don’t just look like they’re going to win the College World Series. They look like they’re going to do it in dominant fashion.

The Gamecocks destroyed the UCLA Bruins 7-1 Monday night, behind ace Blake Cooper’s near no-hitter, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three match-up.

The Bruins never looked comfortable against Cooper, managing just a single hit in eight innings before Cooper tired in the ninth as his pitch count rose. Catcher Steve Rodriguez singled in the fifth inning, spoiling Cooper’s chances at immortality.

Save for that one hit, Cooper was flawless through the first eight frames. He entered the game with a 2.86 ERA and a .240 opponents batting average against, but UCLA probably wondered how those numbers got so high. Read the rest of this entry »

UCLA's pitcher Trevor Bauer. Image Via: Crystal LoGiudice, US Presswire

The finals of the College World Series are set, and the two participants will be UCLA and South Carolina.

The Bruins plated five first-inning runs and never looked back, routing Texas Christian 10-3. Ben Dunlap stunned the Horned Frogs early, ripping a three-run home run into the left-field bleachers. Dunlap finished 3-for-5 on the day.

That support was more than enough for Bruin starter Trevor Bauer. Despite a heat index of 107 degrees, Bauer threw 84 of his 135 pitches for strikes and fanned 13. Although the Horned Frogs chipped away at the lead, closing to 6-3 on the second of Bryan Holaday’s two home runs, they never seriously threatened.

UCLA plated two runs in the sixth and seventh innings, ending any chance of another miracle TCU comeback. The Horned Frogs trailed Florida State 7-2 in a game earlier in the CWS, but came back to win.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Texas Christian Horned Frogs were facing elimination yesterday at the College World Series. Thankfully, that had Matt Purke on the mound, and in case you didn’t know, Purke doesn’t lose.

Really.

Purke moved to 16-0 on the season by retiring the first 11 hitters he faced–nine on ground balls–as TCU staved off elimination with a 6-2 win over UCLA. Purke didn’t allow a hit until Chris Giovinazzo bunted his way on base with one out in the fifth with the Bruins down 3-0, drawing a smattering of boos from the pro-TCU crowd.

Read the rest of this entry »

Brady Thomas ripped a single into center field to complete a stunning, 3-2 South Carolina comeback win over Oklahoma in the College World Series Thursday night.

Tyler Ogle’s home run in the top of the 12th inning gave Oklahoma a 2-1 lead and threatened to end the Gamecocks‘ season.

Ogle blasted a 1-0 pitch the opposite way, barely clearing the left-centerfield wall. The home run was Oklahoma’s first hit since the sixth inning.

South Carolina got the lead-off runner on base in the 12th when Robert Beary singled, but Evan Marzilli struck out after failing to get a bunt down and after Beary stole second, Whit Merrifield popped out. Read the rest of this entry »

TCU's Matt Curry. Image Via: AP Photo/Nati Harnik

For seven innings, it looked like the Florida State Seminoles were going to survive an error-filled game that would have eliminated them from the College World Series.

In the eighth inning, they finally paid for their mistakes in a big way.

With the count full and two outs, Texas Christian’s Matt Curry blasted a grand slam over the center-field batters eye and turned a 7-5 deficit into a 9-7 lead. TCU won 11-7 and eliminated the ‘Noles from the CWS.

Florida State had jumped out to a 7-2 lead through five innings despite making four errors in that span. But when Jantzen Witte reached base on another error to open the eighth inning, it eventually cost FSU.

Down 7-4, Bryan Holaday doubled in a run to make it 7-5 and after a walk loaded the bases, Curry delivered.

Read the rest of this entry »

Screwing up a sacrifice bunt might have been the best thing that happened to the South Carolina Gamecocks yesterday in the College World Series.

South Carolina scored eight runs in the second inning after failing to get down bunts three times, and rolled to an 11-4 victory over the top-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. ASU was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.

After putting two runners on with no one out in the second inning, Bobby Haney struck out bunting foul. Scott Wingo then followed by bunting a 2-0 pitch foul.

Perhaps South Carolina just figured they’d be better off abandoning the small ball, because they started swinging and driving balls all over Rosenblatt Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

The Arizona State Sun Devils entered the College World Series as the top-ranked team in the country. In their opening game, they played like anything but.

A mistake-prone ASU squad lost to Clemson University 6-3 in the make-up of their game yesterday that was postponed due to heavy rain.

In the top of the 2nd, Clemson had runners on first and second with one out when ASU pitcher Seth Blair was called for a balk. With runners on second and third now, the next batter hit a ground ball deep in the hole at shortstop. Instead of having an easy force play, shortstop Deven Marrero was forced to make a long throw to first, which pulled the first baseman off the bag, scoring a run.

Read the rest of this entry »

UCLA's Gerrit Cole. Image via: AP Photo/Nati Harnik

The Florida State Seminoles used three home runs to jump on top of the rival Florida Gators in the College World Series yesterday, but were forced to withstand a late rally before winning 8-5.

Mike McGee struck the big blow on offense with a three-run home run in the third inning. Stephen Cardullo and Tyler Holt also hit home runs for the Seminoles.

But the Gators nearly made Florida State pay for leaving 11 runners on base when they staged a rally in the ninth. Preston Tucker ripped a bases-loaded double down the left field line to make it 8-5 and forcing the Seminoles to bring in McGee to try and close it out.

But McGee wasn’t quite as fortunate on the mound as he was with the bat and allowed a single and hit a batter to load the bases up again and bring Mike Zunino to the plate as the leading run. Zunino ripped a ball to Cardullo that, for a fraction of a second, looked like it might get into the gap. But Cardullo caught it, and doubled the runner off second, ending the fifth-ranked Gators’ season.

Read the rest of this entry »

If South Carolina Gamecock and Oklahoma Sooner players had any Father’s Day plans, hopefully they took care of them in the morning. Because they spent the rest of their Sunday at the ballpark.

After suffering through two rain delays that delayed the game over six hours, the Sooners then had to wait out a ninth-inning rally by the Gamecocks.

Trailing 4-2 in the ninth, the Gamecocks got a break when leadoff batter Kyle Enders smoked a ball under the third baseman’s glove. After a single and a walk sandwiched around a strikeout, South Carolina had the bases loaded with only one out.

But then Sooner pitcher Ryan Duke tied up Whit Merrifield on a 2-2 pitch, forcing him to pop up for the second out.

With one out to go, Duke may have felt the pressure as he walked the next batter on four pitches, none of which were especially close, making the score 4-3. Read the rest of this entry »