South Carolina Gamecocks: Best firework finishes since joining the SEC
By Jacob Elsey
1. WHIT MERRIFIELD CWS WALK-OFF
The Gamecocks made their first championship series appearance in 2010, facing off against the UCLA Bruins. Game two ended with one of the best finishes in College World Series history.
Trailing 1-0 over the first seven innings of the game, the Gamecocks rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the eighth. The two teams would need extra innings to decide the outcome, with the score staying knotted at 1-1 into the 11th.
The drama would end in the 11th frame, though, with Whit Merrifield knocking a 2-0 delivery from UCLA reliever Dan Klein into right field for the game-winning RBI single. The win gave South Carolina its first ever national title in baseball, and was the first CWS championship game to be decided in extra innings in 40 years.
The game would be the last ever played in historic Rosenblatt Stadium. The Gamecocks would follow up the world series win with another national championship in 2011, but there’s not another game in South Carolina history to produce the dramatics of that late June victory.
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