Gamecocks' postseason run will never be matched
What we lose in all of this is the ability to truly appreciate what we see. Our need to magnify distorts our perception of reality. We fail to realize that there are things that do not need to be enhanced. They are magical enough to stand on their own.
South Carolina's baseball team won 22 straight NCAA postseason games. Read that sentence again and truly try to comprehend what it says. A collegiate baseball team went more than two years without losing a postseason game. Not only that, USC won 12 straight games at the College World Series, the most competitive and pressure-filled event the sport has to offer. The Gamecocks took the biggest, baddest programs in college baseball and relegated them to guests at USC's two-year Omaha block party.
Baseball is a sport unlike any other. It is a unique game that requires both personal excellence and crisp teamwork. The sport is treated with reverence by those who participate in it. They believe that the game must be treated with respect, that it will give and take away with a fair hand.
The Gamecocks seemed to have the baseball gods in their back pocket. They escaped bases-loaded, no out jams with startling regularity, while opposing teams crumbled in clutch situations. They always seemed to find a way to make the plays that had to be made. Most impressively, they did so with a demeanor befitting a collection of friends playing in the sandlot. Watching them, you almost believed that they did not realize how large the stakes were. While their opponents often resembled the guards at Buckingham Palace, the Gamecocks seemed to be channeling the court jesters.
They showed the college baseball world what can be achieved through true team play. It seemed a new hero emerged every week. It was Christian Walker and his home run against Coastal Carolina. It was Michael Roth and his gem against Clemson. It was Whit Merrifield and his national championship walk-off. It was Matt Price slamming the door versus Virginia. It was Scott Wingo flashing the leather against Florida. Most of all, it was Ray Tanner, putting his players in the right spots, demonstrating a cool head in times of duress.
Those who write the record books can put this one down in ink. It isn't going anywhere. Not with bats that have been stripped of their power and pop. Not with athletic directors across the country putting more emphasis on fledgling baseball programs. Not with better training for younger players.
It had to end eventually. College baseball is becoming more and more competitive and the ball couldn't continue to bounce South Carolina's way forever. The Gamecocks won't win five straight national titles, the way the Trojans of Southern Cal did in the early 1970s. The sport is in a new era and there are too many good teams.
But no matter how good other programs become, none of them will touch what South Carolina did over the past three seasons. What the Gamecocks achieved was historic and it will not be erased.
This is an accomplishment that needs no hyperbole, a magical event that requires no exaggeration. Instead of attempting to inflate the legend even farther, let's just appreciate it for what it is.
The greatest run in college baseball history, made by, quite possibly, the greatest team the sport has ever seen.