For those people who love to wax poetic about how great the game of baseball is, I feel like they should be Gamecock fans because Carolina baseball is a winning tradition. Not just winning tradition as in winning ball games but winning tradition as in the way they go about playing those games, the way they conduct themselves, the stadium, the atmosphere, the fans, it all seems to be a throwback to a different time and place especially in the game of baseball. Yet they still have the winning tradition as in winning games as well. Only one other team in college baseball has won more games than the gamecocks since the year 2000. That is definitely a winning tradition if I’ve ever seen one.
Going to a Carolina baseball game makes me feel like I’ve sort of stepped back in time to those days when we talk about when baseball was great. You walk in and immediately see the championship trophy that is on display and you already start to get a sense you’re in some place special. As you walk through you look down onto the field and the rest of Carolina Stadium and you feel like you’re back in another era. I don’t know a better way to describe it than just to say you really feel like you’re going to be a part of this game no matter where you sit. You see the lush green grass and the stadium still looks as though it just opened yesterday. You see people sitting in the outfield on the grass beyond the right-field fence and families just having a good time. You just don’t find yourself in any place like this anymore.
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From there although everything seems to be sort of a throwback to days gone by, you definitely feel the vibe of the current game with all the different options for food and drinks. But even those seem to have a local flair or flavor to them as well which just adds to the overall sense of being there. When you sit down, it doesn’t matter where you are – behind home plate, third base, first base down the line or in the outfield you feel like you’re a part of the game and everything seems so close.
Then from when all of the pregame activities start all the way through the last pitch you feel as though you’re still just a part of something different, something special. The game itself is always fun of course and the fact that the Gamecocks always have a good team certainly helps. There has been a long list of great players, even just recently, from Michael Roth and Jackie Bradley Jr., to Christian Walker and Grayson Greiner. No matter how many great players move on, they always seem to find and develop more. The Gamecocks are always strong on pitching and defense and this year is expected to be no different. With two national championships back to back in the last five years expectations are always high and this year is no different. There’s a lot of hope and hype and people are very excited for the season to begin.
If there’s any downside to South Carolina Gamecock baseball, it’s that tickets can be very difficult to come by because of the level of enthusiasm for the team. Many games are sold out and season ticket sales are extremely high, with most likely only standing room only tickets available for most games. But if you haven’t ever been especially since they moved to the new stadium you need to make a trip there, especially if you have a family and enjoy good baseball. It’s a winning tradition all the way around and a great place to spend the afternoon or early evening.