Oral history: Inside South Carolina's 22-game postseason win streak

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASEBALL

A golden era of college baseball is set to start next season with more talent in the sport than ever before thanks to Coronavirus changing things.

With it will bring its fair share of new dynasties and unbeatable teams, but before all of them was South Carolina.

The Gamecocks were college baseball’s most recent dynasty, rattling off an unprecedented 22-straight postseason wins as they won back-to-back titles and played for another in Omaha in 2012.

In this three-part series, GamecockCentral looks back at that win streak and tells the story of it from the players and coaches that were right in the middle of it all, starting with their magical 2010 run to a national title.

Spirit Stick Seance

To know the streak was to know it almost never started. The Gamecocks hosted a regional in 2010 but entered the postseason slumping offensively. They’d find themselves down 5-1 to Bucknell in their first game before a much-needed rain delay and that’s where the weirdness of college baseball took over and the spirit stick was born.

Ray Tanner, head baseball coach: I was furious. I was absolutely furious with our start to that game. We had that delay and I think I yelled at my coaches for about 10 to 15 minutes. I had to yell at somebody.

Mark Calvi, pitching coach: It was so uncomfortable in the coaches’ locker room. Ray had slammed his door. I went into say I think we had to send (Sam) Dyson back out there and he slammed his door on me. I was like, "Well s—t, OK. I’ll check back in with you." I got to try and find Dyson and tell him every 10 minutes we’re going to go and throw to a catcher in the cage. I poke my head into the locker room and the lights are out and all their phone flashlights are on. Some guys had headbands on.

Robert Beary, utility player: I’m kind of a sarcastic person and I was a little frustrated with our hitting and sitting on the bench not doing jack. It pissed me off. We took a Fungo bat and taped it to a ball and I wrote bat on ball on it and I was making everyone touch it and if they didn’t want to touch it, I tapped them with it. They had no choice.

Rain wreaks havoc

They’d win the game and the regional before sweeping a Super Regional against Coastal Carolina thanks to a dramatic, late-inning homer from Christian Walker. But, in their first College World Series appearance since 2004, they found themselves in an all-too-familiar spot.

After hours and hours of rain delays, the Gamecocks dropped their first game against Oklahoma, which meant having to face elimination in every game they played the rest of the way until a potential national championship series.

Jay Brown, pitcher: It just drug on and drug on to the point where our parents had to pass a hat in order to buy us barbecue sandwiches from the concession stand. We had been there for eight or nine hours and we had to eat. We’re eating concession stand barbecue sandwiches just waiting.

Michael Roth, pitcher: That was a weird game against Oklahoma. I ended up pitching in that game. I remember after we lost, Adam Matthews and I were rooming together and we just looked at each other like, "Well, at least we made it." We laughed because in every other tournament we go to we go two-and-cue, so what’s the difference here?

Adrian Morales, third baseman: When I flew out against Oklahoma, I sent a text to our captains Kyle Enders and Jay Brown. I felt so bad I let them down, specifically those guys that I wanted to fix it somehow but the game was over. I texted them and told them, “I’ll give you everything I got the next day and you’ll get the best of me.” The second at-bat I go yard against Arizona State and put the game away.

Dyson delivers

They’d have to play No. 1 seed Arizona State next and ultimately clubbed the Sun Devils, jumping on them early and cruising to an 11-4 win thanks to big homers and lights-out pitching from Sam Dyson, who had been shaky in the postseason prior to that.

Sammy Esposito, assistant coach: He went back to pitching like the Sam Dyson we knew…To get out there and do what he did in the most important game of the year when it’s like 95 to 100 degrees outside where the umpire has to come out of the game because he passes out from heat exhaustion. For our offense to do what it did and get us a big lead out there, it was big. Dyson does what Dyson did and it makes it a lot better…When Dyson was on, there wasn’t a college pitcher better than him.

Brady Thomas, catcher: Dyson pitched his rear end off that game. I remember there was a tapper to the mound on a bunt and he dove for it off the mound and I was the guy at first base, but that was just crazy-ass Dyson.

Evan Marzilli, outfielder: Against Arizona State, when we realized we could be going home today, there’s no expectations and there’s no, “We’re going to come back and do that.” It was just we’re going to go out, enjoy where we are and be in the moment. Once we did that, special things started happening.

Too close to call

The win set up a rematch with Oklahoma and the Gamecocks found themselves locked in another tight one, trailing 2-1 in the 12th inning before some Rosenblatt magic happened. Jackie Bradley Jr. worked a full count, taking a close pitch for ball three, before delivering the game tying hit and coming around to score on a Brady Thomas walk-off single.

Tanner: The pitch came in and I put my hands on my knees and thought this was going to be a called strike. I’ve watched it. It was a couple balls inside, but it was close. When all was said and done I asked, “Jackie, how did you take that pitch?” He looked at me and said, “It was a ball.” Brady Thomas gets lost after that with the clutch hits he had.

Whit Merrifield, outfielder: I remember standing with Adam Matthews. We were up on the step watching and I had my arm around him, and he took that pitch and I just put my head down. It looked good from the side and then going back and looking at it from the centerfield camera it wasn’t as close as I thought.

Thomas: I’ve always been an aggressive hitter and if saw something fly in the zone I was going to put the barrel on the ball and make contact. I think (Ryan) Duke was pitching for Oklahoma and he threw me first pitch fastball that I smoked and it hit the ground in front of the mound. I think that slowed it up a little, which helped because if it didn’t hit the mound, it’d go straight to the centerfielder and there might have been a play at home plate.

Founders Park flop

The win set up a rematch with rival Clemson in Omaha with the Gamecocks needing two wins over the Tigers to advance to a national championship series. But, to understand how important these games were, it’s important to know what happened earlier in the year.

The teams split the first two games in the regular season series before Clemson came to the newly-opened Founders Park (then Carolina Stadium) and walloped the Gamecocks 19-6 in front of the home crowd.

Calvi: You’re feeling good after just pounding Clemson and you go back to your place, Tyler Webb makes the start and next thing you know it’s the second inning and you’re like, “Holy s—t.” It’s like 9-2 and we’re like oh my God. We got our doors blown off. That wasn’t a good feeling. Then they had Fire Calvi on the message boards.

Ryan Fischer, equipment manager: I remember Coach Tanner coming in and being mad at Kyle Lipsey and I because we wore white hats and he’s going to pick the uniforms from now on and of course we win 13 in a row wearing garnet jerseys…It left a sour taste in our mouths. I don’t think any of us ever thought we’d see them again that year.

The Roth game

They did and, running out of pitching they needed someone from the bullpen to start game one against the Tigers and, with six or seven lefties in Clemson’s lineup, Calvi turned to a relatively unknown pitcher to make the start in reliever Mike Roth in a game that would change the course of program history.

But, the night before the start, Roth was continuing a tradition he started a few days before of going out to eat after wins.

Patrick Sullivan, pitcher: We realize we’re late to curfew so we’re sprinting back to the hotel and as soon as we get back Calvi’s knocking on Roth’s door a few minutes later saying we’ll start tomorrow. If you looked at Roth he was probably sweating bullets from sprinting through downtown Omaha to get back to the hotel just in time to not get yelled at.

Calvi: I walked into the room and the door was cracked. I said, ‘Hey Mike,’ and he put his hand up. He was watching a movie and he told me to hold on because it was the best part of the movie. I was like, “Jesus Christ, whenever you’re ready, you let me know.” So they watched the scene—him, Wingo and a few other guys—they laughed and asked what I had. I said he was starting tomorrow if you can get away from the movie and he said, “No problem, sounds good.”

Tanner: The next morning, I’m in the elevator with him. We’re the only two in the elevator going down and I said, “You going to be OK?’ and he said, “What do you think?” and I said, “Yeah, I think you think you’re going to be OK.”

Roth: There must have been a miscommunication because I really didn’t know until the afternoon before the game. The night before after we beat Oklahoma, everyone was going crazy and Coach (Chad) Holbrook told me, “Be ready to pitch tomorrow.” I was like yeah, I pitched tonight and I pitch every night. They came to curfew and Calvi was like, “Can you throw tomorrow?” And I was like, "Yeah, what are you talking about? Duh" Then he said, “Well what if you start?” Then I said, “As long as I still get to hit BP.”...I remember getting a text message from my mom saying good luck and I was like what are you talking about? And she sent me the press release saying I was starting.

Brown: The night before Coach Tanner told us it was down to me or Roth. I think Clemson had a ton of lefties, so Coach Tanner said, “All right, we’re going to go with Roth. Jay, you be ready by that third or fourth inning.”… About the fifth or sixth inning I said, “He’s pitching pretty well, I don’t know if pitching in this game is in my future."

Brown never got the chance to pitch with Roth tossing a complete game giving up a run on three hits and inducing 16 ground ball outs to set up a winner-take-all game the next day with Clemson.

Beary: Especially with them old bats, going out there and throw a two-hitter or something like that with old aluminum bats? That’s unreal. You could pretty much touch a ball with any part of that bat and almost hit a home run, especially in Omaha at Rosenblatt.

Exorcise some demons

South Carolina jumped out to a quick lead and held on late in the winner-take-all game, sealing a win and eliminating their arch rival with a diving stop up the first base line by Christian Walker. If the ball got by him, the potential tying run would have likely scored. Instead, it sent the Gamecocks to the national championship series against a surging UCLA team.

Christian Walker, first baseman: It was icing on the cake to be honest. Every play as an infielder, you expect the ball to come to you and want to plan on, "OK, what happens if this ball’s hit to me?" Late game with runners on in a close game, it’s about the ball and our guys put it on the ground. I think it was Price pitching for us and he got us another ground ball.

Marzilli: I especially remember that moment I had missed the fly ball in the corner because I tripped on the (bullpen) mound. I remember that moment specifically. I’ll never be more thankful for a guy in my life than C-Walk. I ran off the mound full speed and lost my legs and it dropped. I’m thinking, “Wow, I almost lost us the College World Series.”Then the next pitch is an absolute bullet and I remember giving him the biggest hug and thanking him for saving my life.

Tyler Webb, pitcher: It was such a weight lifted to beat Clemson that it was freeing to play UCLA. Yeah we were playing for the national championship but we beat Clemson so it doesn’t really matter. At least in some guys’ opinions whatever happened was just icing on the cake. The pressure’s off. You beat Clemson; they can’t say anything about you anymore.

Thomas: There’s so many Clemson fans in Anderson where I live and Greenville and that area, having Upstate kids on the team—me, Wingo, Roth—I don’t want to call it the national championship but I wanted to prevent them from winning a national championship. That way they’d stop flying those ugly orange flags at home.

Breaking down the Bruins

Facing UCLA though meant having to go up against two likely first-rounders and future big leaguers in Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer, who had sliced their way through the Pac-12 all season.

Bobby Haney, shortstop: I don’t think we really cared about that, even though we knew some of their guys turned down millions of dollars out of high school. We just don’t care. We sat on the fastball from Gerrit Cole, which he has a great fastball but it was flat. There were a couple good bounces—I think a check swing double from Brady—and a little humping line drive over third base and a ground ball through the guy’s legs and I got a flare, sac fly to left off Cole. We got into him and had a little bit of luck.

Cooper cruises

Game one of the championship series was between Cole and Blake Cooper, who was making his third start in seven days and with a hand that fractured in the Super Regional with a foul ball hitting it.

With the Gamecocks tagging Cole for seven runs on a few fluky plays and bloop singles, Cooper was dialed in, pitching into the ninth and giving up one run while striking out 10 on short rest to put the Gamecocks within one game of a national title.

Calvi: Blake went out and starting the game on fumes, so I can only imagine what he finished at…He looked different but the results were the same. He was nasty.”

Blake Cooper, pitcher: I was out of gas. I also noticed I had pinpoint command that day. It was like the Good Lord telling me he might not have given me the best stuff but he gave me pinpoint command and wanted me to figure out how to use it.

Merrifield: We knew we had an advantage on them offensively from playing in the league we played in; playing in the SEC you see power arms like that on a daily basis. It’s not something we were nervous or scared of. We welcomed it. We looked forward to that stage. That showed when we took it to Gerrit Cole in game one. I don’t think he’d see anyone do that to him in his life really up until that point. It was sort of a statement game.

Webb: They went with Blake and he pitched his ass off. It was incredible what he did.

Calvi: On the bus ride home it was Michael Roth and he said, “Did this feel like an intrasquad to anyone else?” He said, “This felt like an intrasquad. We’re going to kick their ass tomorrow.” The whole bus went nuts.

Whit’s hit

They didn’t run away with anything but instead they found themselves tied 1-1 in the 10th and UCLA had the bases loaded, their closer still the game and Bauer warming up full steam ahead in the bullpen. That’s when Matt Price struck out a batter with two outs on a 3-2 slider to keep it tied.

Tanner: It’s weird. I can remember it like it was yesterday. (Bauer) was sprinting down to the bullpen about 95 miles per hour and grabs a baseball and he’s throwing it 95. Then he starts getting his arm loose with that instrument that like mechanical piece. There was a part of me that wanted him to come in and pitch four innings cause then he wouldn’t be available for game three.

It stayed tied until the 11th when Scott Wingo worked a full-count walk, moved to third on a wild pitch and Merrifield singled him home on a 2-0 count and the rest is Gamecock history.

Tanner: (Marzilli) squares to bunt and the ball goes to the backstop. He crowded the plate and the catcher was set up inside so the catcher lost flight of the ball. You think about a guy throwing 90-plus and Marzilli was in his path. Marzilli was in the batter’s box but he was set up inside and for a second that catcher lost that pitch. It didn’t hit him, it went right past him.

Merrifield: Their coach went to the mound, so I thought they were going to bring in Bauer. They didn’t and the catcher came back, and I still thought I was going to walk. Then the catcher squatted down and I sort of got hit with a wave of nerves… I step back in and say if this ball is anywhere close I’m going to swing. He threw a fastball down and away, not a great pitch to swing at 2-0 but I got the barrel on it and hit the line drive to right field.

Webb: We like pulled the top of our pants up and socks down over our cleats and I was thinking we’re going to win and we’re going to look so stupid in this dogpile. Sure enough, that’s what happened. So every time I see that picture, I’m like of course we look as dumb as possible.”

Tommy Moody, radio color analyst: I was speechless. I really was. I let Andy (Demetra) just take it for a minute or two. I was thinking about not just me…I got to thinking about those guys—Bob Fulton, Tom Price and my dad—and I really couldn’t say anything. A few minutes later I joined Andy in the postgame celebratory talk but I was literally speechless thinking about so many different things.

Merrifield: I sort of blacked out. I remembered making sure I touched first base. Then the next thing I knew I was the bottom of a two thousand pound sweaty man pile.

Reaping the benefits

After a about two hours at Rosenblatt after Merrifield’s hit, the Gamecocks returned to their hotel and were able to celebrate with family, fans and each other before an early-morning flight back to Columbia.

Brown: One of the coolest memories I have, there weren’t a lot of people that did this but there were a handful of us that ended up in Calvi’s room and they were replaying the College World Series. So in the wee hours of the morning we’re re-watching the game with some of our coaching staff.

Sullivan: When you’re in Omaha that first year we’re going out, we’re staying in the hotel…Half the people show up to the flight hung over. We’re ready to go back and reset a little but they pick us up on the bus and there’s thousands and thousands of people at the airport.

The Gamecocks would get on those busses and the streets were lined with fans all the way to Colonial Life where the arena was packed to welcome home the newly-crowned champions.

Cooper: We had about 30 minutes before we land in Columbia and Coach Tanner comes up to me and says, “Coop, you’re about to speak in front of 15,000 people. I don’t know if you have anything prepared or what, but I would probably get out a pen and a piece of paper and jot down some notes of what you’d like to say.”

Merrifield: I turned my phone on and I remember it blowing up with people asking where we were at; I remember responding to Andrew Clifford and remember saying, “What’s the big deal? We’re coming.” And he said this place was full. Then I thought, “I should probably put more thought into this speech.” We pulled up and that place was rocking.

Then, a few days after that, the parade down main street happens and almost the entire town shows up for it.

Tanner: I was not in favor of the parade because the parade was going to be four or five days later. I’m thinking we shouldn’t have a parade because we’ll only have just a few thousand people there. I’d love to have a parade, that’d be great but it’s not going to be impactful. They basically said they’ll handle it. Then when we come down Main Street I’m thinking this is incredible.

Calvi: If you were a bank robber that day, that was a good day to rob a bank because no one was around. They were all at the parade.

Marzilli: I seriously doubt winning a national championship at another school is as cool as winning one at South Carolina. The parade? I was blown away. It was not real life. It was insane, man. In what world do I deserve something like this?

Part two will come out Tuesday focusing on the 2011 national championship run.