June 28- South Carolina wins the 2011 College World Series
2011- On this day in Sports History, the South Carolina Gamecocks beat the Florida Gators to win the 2011 College World Series. The Gamecocks became the first team in history to go 10-0 in the NCAA Tournament. They won every tournament game enroute to their second straight National Championship. They were the first team to win back-to-back National Championships since 2006 and 2007 when Oregon State did it. The Gamecocks were also the first team since Oregon State in 2007 to be 5-0 in the College World Series.
South Carolina went into the 2011 college baseball season hoping to repeat their 2010 Title. They had a pretty successful season and were ranked in the top 5 in the country for most of the year. They finished the regular season 44-12, including the 22-8 record in the Southeastern Conference. This made them SEC regular season Co-Champs with Florida and Vanderbilt as each team finished with a 22-8 SEC record. They entered the SEC Tournament as the first seed, but failed to make it past the second round after losses to Vanderbilt and Georgia.
The Gamecocks wouldn’t lose another game the rest of the year. They entered the NCAA Tournament as the first seed in the Columbia region. They were matched up against NC State, Georgia Southern, and Stetson which they went 3-0 against to make the Super Regionals. There they beat UCONN in two games to make it to the College World Series. The other seven teams in the College World Series were California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and Virginia.
Although South Carolina was the first team since 2007 to not lose a game in the College World Series, they were still really challenged against the teams they played. Three of the five wins were decided by one run. Two of the wins came on walk-off hits to win the game. South Carolina made the Finals after beating Virginia 3-2 in 13 innings in the semifinals. They then faced Florida for the National Title. South Carolina won Game 1 2-1 in 11 innings.
On this day in 2011, South Carolina won the College World Series by beating Florida 5-2 in Game 2 of the Finals to sweep the series against the Gators. They beat Karsten Whitson, Florida’s starting pitcher, to give him his only loss of the season (8-1). South Carolina officially became the first team to go 10-0 through the NCAA Tournament as they won the 2011 College World Series for their second straight National Championship.
Be sure to subscribe to receive each story in your email!
Also be sure to follow our social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Find more awesome previous posts at https://www.sportsaday.com/blog1
Sources:
The Associated Press. “Baseball Champs South Carolina Defied Steep Odds.” NPR, NPR, 29 June 2011
“2011 College World Series.” 2011 College World Series - BR Bullpen, Baseball Reference