Having grown up a gamecocks fan, I have ridden the roller coaster of highs and lows endured by the sports program. This is tremendous for the entire gamecock community, I will stop short of saying it is deserved as nothing is too be taken for granted. This team has worked hard and fought in every inning. Tanner has been building for this for years. I remember the 2002 loss to Texas and the many runs at getting back to the position. I had confidence in this team in making it to the CWS in 2010 (here is my baseball preview from the start of the season) but to be honest, to be 27 outs from the CWS crown still has me in awe.
This team deserves it. Coach Tanner deserves it. Gamecock Nation deserves it.
One last thing to do….USC just needs to close out the season tonight against UCLA. It will not be easy but the team knows what they need to do. SC needs to score early, pitch defensively, get the hits at the right time and don’t hurt themselves. Something tells me the bullpen will need to be huge tonight and hope Michael Roth is ready to “be the man.” UCLA is a good team and they will not roll over.
It is about 45 mins till the first pitch. 45 minutes until the Gamecocks begin what will hopefully be the final leg of their journey to reach the season’s goal of winning the CWS. It is great to be a gamecocks fan and tonight the ball club needs to close out the season on a high note with a Game 2 win. My garnet and black blood pumping heart might not be able to take a game 3.
Go Cocks!
