Saturday, June 22, 2002
Gamecocks, Longhorns set for another title tilt
South Carolina's win over Clemson creates rematch of '75 game
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — Now South Carolina gets to play in the ultimate elimination game.
The Gamecocks clinched a spot in the College World Series championship by beating state rival Clemson 10-2 Friday, one week after opening the tournament with an 11-0 loss to Georgia Tech.
“We like the city of Omaha, and after we didn't open very well, we were doing our best to extend our stay,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. “We battled back the hard way, and now we get a chance to play in the national championship game. It's a tremendous feeling.”
The Gamecocks (57-17) beat the Tigers for the second time in three days and won their fourth straight elimination game. South Carolina will play Texas (56-15) for the national title today in a rematch of the 1975 championship, which the Longhorns won 5-1.
South Carolina's Steven Bondurant gave up eight hits and struck out seven in his second complete game of the season. The Gamecocks' last four hitters — Garris Gonce, Brian Buscher, Landon Powell and Kevin Melillo — combined to go 9-for-18 with nine RBI.
“The guys at the top of the order just needed a little break,” said Gonce. “They were saving all their hits for tomorrow, so we thought we'd pick them up today.”
South Carolina had 13 hits and took advantage of three errors and three wild pitches in completing a 4-0 run through the CWS that was made necessary after the loss to Georgia Tech. Southern California in 1998 was the last team to lose its opener and make it to the championship game. The Trojans beat Arizona State 21-14.
Melillo was 3-for-5 with three RBI, including a two-run single as South Carolina pulled away with a five-run eighth inning. Gonce, who had a two-run single in the inning, finished 3-for-6 with three RBI, as leading the Gamecocks to their first title game since '75.
Bondurant (7-4), a junior left-hander, held the Tigers to five hits through eight innings before giving up a run in the ninth.
Clemson (54-17) opened the CWS 3-0 and needed to beat the Gamecocks just once to advance to the final, but couldn't do it after going 3-1 against South Carolina during the regular season.
The Tigers' Matt Henrie (13-5), who had a win and a save in relief, allowed five runs, three earned, over 2 2/3 innings in his first CWS start.
Clemson shortstop Khalil Greene, who last Friday won winner of the Dick Howser player of the year trophy, from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, made three errors. He had 11 entering Friday.
Jeff Baker and Zane Green had RBI singles for Clemson, which trailed 10-1 entering the ninth. The game ended when Greene flied out to right with the bases loaded.
The Gamecocks rallied for wins over Nebraska, Tech and the Tigers to reach Friday's game. , which was the first time in the CWS they took the lead.
There was no indication of any ill will lingering from South Carolina's 12-4 win on Wednesday, when the Gamecocks taunted the Tigers a bit after some big plays. This time the only flustering South Carolina did was on the field.
The Gamecocks took a 3-0 lead on RBI singles by Powell and Melillo and added two more runs in the third. on an error, a hit and two wild pitches.
Trey Dyson reached first on Greene's throwing error, went to third on Gonce's single and scored on Henrie's wild pitch. Gonce went to second on another wild pitch and scored when Buscher singled to left, making it 5-0.
Powell, who was 2-for-4 with three RBI, walked with the bases loaded in the eighth.
South Carolina set a school record for wins, topping its 56-10 finish in 2000.
DESTINY?: When Texas coach Augie Garrido tried to get philosophical about his team reaching the championship game of the College World Series, his players saw things differently.
Garrido described his Longhorns as a team of destiny. Left fielder Dustin Majewski said it was the hard work that helped land Texas its first CWS championship appearance since 1989.
“I think we're a team that feels like we deserve to be here,” Majewski said.
Then, UT freshman relief ace Huston Street drew a smile from his coach.
“I don't know if we're a team of destiny,” Street said. “I don't know what that means, but I know we've got 25 guys ready to go out every day. We play for each other. Everybody is pulling for the next guy and that's what makes this such a strong team.”
EXTRA COACHING: Garrido gave credit to one of his players for a pitching decision that paid off in Thursday night's win against Stanford.
Majewski told Garrido to leave reliever Jesen Merle in to pitch to Stanford's solid-hitting left-handers. Majewski was speaking from experience — he's left-handed.
Garrido said Majewski said he couldn't hit Merle in practice, so why would Stanford's hitters be much better? They weren't, as Merle allowed only a bunt single in his four innings of relief.
STAT LEADERS: It apparently didn't pay to be the top-hitting or best-pitching teams in the College World Series.
The two hottest-hitting teams were Georgia Tech (.392) and Nebraska (.319). The Cornhuskers lost their first two games despite the top slugging percentage and on-base percentage among the eight teams in the tournament. Georgia Tech won its first game, then lost its next two.
As for pitching, Rice and Notre Dame have the top two earned run averages of the 2002 tournament. Rice also lost its first two games despite its tourney ERA of 3.63. Notre Dame, like Georgia Tech, won one game, then lost a second to go home. Its team ERA was 4.15.
Rice, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Nebraska also were the top four fielding teams. Texas, the only unbeaten team heading to Saturday's title game, was last in fielding and seventh in hitting. The Longhorns were third, however, in pitching.
TEXAS PITCHING: Texas entered the CWS with the top ERA among Division I teams at 2.73. The Longhorns' ERA is 4.33 in the series, but they're 3-0 and in Saturday's championship game.
The stars of the staff have been ace Justin Simmons, who won Game 1, allowing five hits and one earned run in 7 1/3 innings in a 2-1 win over Rice, and freshman reliever Huston Street, with three saves in three chances at the CWS, keeping his perfect record intact.
Street has not blown a save in 13 tries this season, and his ERA is 1.93 at the CWS. Simmons' ERA is 1.23.
Coming into the tournament nine Texas pitchers had ERAs of 3.00 or below.
POWER GAME: Regardless if South Carolina or Clemson advance to Saturday's championship game against Texas, it will be a contrast of power statistics.
Texas has one 20-homer player. First baseman Jeff Ontiveros hit a school single-season record 20th at the CWS Thursday night. It was his second of the tournament and a team-record 67th for the year.
Entering their Friday semifinal, Clemson and South Carolina both put Texas to shame when it comes to the long ball.
Clemson had 112 roundtrippers with Khalil Greene, Michael Johnson and Jeff Baker all with 25 or more.
South Carolina had 122 homers with Yaron Peters tops with 29 and five others with 12 or more.
DOUBLES RECORD: Clemson's Khalil Greene broke the NCAA career record for doubles — 95 — in his first at-bat in Friday's loss to South Carolina.
He hit one off the top of the left-center field fence for his 95th career double. That broke the previous record of 94, set by Wichita State's Phil Standiford from 1985-88.
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