Back from the brink: How South Carolina won its regional
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South Carolina watched from the home dugout as Marcus Mooney stalked back to the team and Rhode Island celebrated on the field.
The Rams had just sent the Gamecocks into the loser’s bracket section of the regional, forcing South Carolina to win four games in three days to advance to the Super Regionals.
“Things didn’t look good for us on Friday night,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “I think someone told me we had a seven percent chance to win our regional based on the history of the tournament.”
Seven percent. The Gamecocks were staring down the barrel on the wrong side of history, but that didn’t matter.
They would rattle off those four wins—one Saturday, two Sunday and one Tuesday—outscoring opponents 47-10 during the stretch. The regional championship was capped by a 10-5 victory over UNCW Tuesday.
It looked bleak for the Gamecocks, who were tied with Duke Saturday in the ninth inning and losing momentum like a boat with a leak. But then the miraculous happened: Hunter Taylor sent a ball scorching off the third base bag and into left field for the go-ahead RBI double.
That changed the tide of the weekend, and the Gamecocks haven’t looked back since. They would also use performances from pitchers Adam Hill and Tyler Johnson Sunday to preserve the bullpen for Tuesday.
And from there, the Gamecocks used all the momentum they built to take the Columbia Regional.
“I have a group of guys who just don’t quit; they believe in the uniform they represent,” Holbrook said. “There’s something special about that Gamecock spirit when it comes to putting on a baseball uniform. They fought back in it and found a way to win it.”
After watching Rhode Island score five unanswered runs to take the game Friday, the Gamecocks were able to use hot bats from unlikely heroes like Taylor and DC Arendas to power their way past the rest of the field and into the Super Regionals.
“We’re just a real hard group to beat both mentally and out on the field. I love my team to death. Even after the game we were in the locker room and we said, ‘Guys, we’re not done,’” designated hitter Alex Destino said. “We realized our goals and we achieved those goals. Now it’s time to go out and make new ones.”
The Gamecocks advance to their first Super Regional since 2013 where they’ll face Oklahoma State at home starting Saturday. Game one of the three-game series will be at 3 p.m.
And getting ready to face a Cowboy team that upended national seed Clemson at home last weekend, the Gamecocks know it’ll be a tough road, but now the road to Omaha runs through Columbia.
And the Gamecocks have all the momentum after coming back from the brink.
“It’s how we carry out our business on the field, and the last four games have been a lot of fun,” Destino said. “This regional I think we learned a lot about our team. And what we learned is we have a lot of momentum going into the Super Regional.”
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