South Carolina on Verge of CWS Title

OMAHA, Neb. -- It's common knowledge that South Carolina experienced its share of adversity this baseball season.

The Gamecocks had trouble scoring runs during one stretch. They went two-and-out at the Southeastern Conference tournament, prompting a series of two-a-day practices. They have played four elimination games here at the College World Series and were one strike away from hasta luego ("see you later") four days ago. The fire alarm in their hotel blared away Monday at 1:30 a.m.

What's the fuss?

Life is good -- and on the verge of being great -- for USC.

The Gamecocks are one win away from capturing their first national title in baseball, and second overall national title for a proud but attention-starved athletics program. The scenario was made possible by Monday's impressive, if not strange, 7-1 win over No. 6 national seed UCLA at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Fate appeared to be smiling on USC, which continued to make all the right moves before a festive crowd of 23,181 that also appeared intent on enjoying Rosenblatt's final days.

Better yet, the Gamecocks (53-16) have the look and feel of past champions that seemed to leap out of nowhere (2006 Oregon State, 2008 Fresno State) and generate feel-good vibes.

The best-of-three series continues Tuesday night, and UCLA (51-16) needs a victory to force a decisive third game. Or it will be party-hearty for USC and destruction and tears for Rosenblatt, as the CWS moves three miles away to a new downtown facility next year.

There wasn't much drama to Monday's first-ever meeting between the two programs.

USC led 5-0 lead after three innings, taking full advantage of excuse-me swings, perfectly-placed hits and UCLA nerves. That proved to be more than enough cushion.

Not lost in the performance was the spectacular pitching effort from rubber-armed USC ace Blake Cooper (13-2), starting on just three days' rest for the second consecutive game. Cooper mixed an effective slider and curveball with a sinking but not overpowering fastball from a three-quarters delivery.

The senior right-hander surrendered three hits with 10 strikeouts before tiring in the ninth after throwing 136 pitches. He was lifted with no outs after loading the bases on a pair of singles and his lone walk. Reliever John Taylor enticed a double-play ground ball and a fly out to secure the win.

"I felt fine warming up," said Cooper (right), who was given the option by coaches, but declined, to take an additional day of rest.

"I could tell I wasn't going to have enough giddy-up on my fastball. And I really wanted to rely on the sink and being able to throw curveballs and sliders and strikes. I was able to do that early in the count, get some ground balls out and base strikeouts when I needed them."

Gerrit Cole (11-4), who dominated TCU in his previous CWS start and is a former first-round selection of the New York Yankees in 2008, pitched seven innings and took the loss. He allowed 11 hits and four earned runs with just two strikeouts. Cole appeared a tad flustered early in the game.

"You know, they had a great approach," Cole said. "I don't know what the approach was. But it was -- whatever it was, it worked. You know, they touched the ball with two strikes."

UCLA entered as the favorite, advancing through the winners' bracket, but it was USC that settled in and found its rhythm on the championship stage. The Gamecocks banged out 14 hits, with every player in the lineup contributing.

They played with confidence, poise and pizazz. The only two teams to rebound after losing the first game of the series final are Oregon State (2006) and Fresno State (2008).

"It was clearly their night from the get-go," UCLA coach John Savage said.

"They deserve to win the game. They dominated us I think in every phase, really. So it's one game. And it's the best two-out-of-three, and, you know, we have bounced back -- we have bounced back all season, and this is a team that has been very resilient. And we'll get back after it [Tuesday]. But [Monday] they had our number, and you gotta give them a ton of credit."

While UCLA is also in search of its first national title in baseball, the Bruins' athletics history is tradition rich. They have 106 national titles overall -- yes, one-zero-six. The trophies and banners are stacked one on top of the other in glass-enclosed cases in the program's storied Hall of Fame room.

USC's one NCAA championship trophy -- yes, o-n-e -- resides in the office of coach Curtis Frye, whose women's track and field team captured the 2002 NCAA title.

Finding room for NCAA baseball hardware won't be a problem, but head coach Ray Tanner wasn't about to think that far ahead. He was just hoping for a good night's sleep. The fire alarm at USC's team hotel went off Monday morning, and the team didn't get back into their rooms until after 2 a.m.

"It will probably be like the other nights -- a little bit here, a little bit there," Tanner said of his Nebraska nocturnal clock.

"But we're not thinking about that [title] really. That's too much to think about. I just told the guys, you know, we're going to do the things we've done all year. It's just another game for us [Tuesday]. And we'll try to put it together and try to win a game. And that's really going to be the focus."

And the fire alarm? Hey, Tanner smiled, whatever works.

"I had forgotten about all that until you mentioned it," Tanner said.

"It might happen again tonight. I might pull it tonight, keep the same routine, we'll go back out there and do it."