Junior closer has record-breaking third season
Close game, late innings, opponent trying to take the lead. The bullpen doors swing open and a roar goes up from the USC faithful.
The Priceman cometh.
Matt Price has been put in pressure-filled situations since the day he arrived on campus. He owns the school record for most saves with 43 and has more appearances than any Gamecock pitcher in school history. Price has been on the mound 102 times in his USC career.
The list of pressure-cookers he has been dropped into is mind-boggling. Bases loaded, no outs, 4-3 eighth inning lead against Coastal Carolina in the 2010 Super Regionals? Yawn. 5.2 innings of scoreless relief, including another bases load no-out jam in the 13th inning against Virginia in Omaha last year? Snore. He is the Energizer Bunny of closers. When he is needed, he will keep going and going.
USC saw the stamina he exhibited in last year's College World Series and made him a starter to begin this season. That lasted five starts. Price looked like he didn't know what to do without a game to save. He is a bear and the Gamecocks are his cubs. He needs something to protect. Price went back to the bullpen for the first meeting of the year against Florida and resumed his role as the most dominant closer in college baseball. And 13 saves later, it's safe to say he is back where he belongs.
The most impressive aspect of Price's career has been his performances when the lights shine the brightest. He has owned the biggest stage in college baseball, the College World Series. He has finished more games in Omaha than any other pitcher in history. He has won more games at the CWS than anyone else, and he hasn't started a single one. He has been called on to perform in the toughest situations the sport has to offer, and he has come through with flying colors.
Price's career at South Carolina could have been one chapter shorter. The Sumter native was taken in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He turned down Arizona's offer to come back for one more season with USC. This year, the Baltimore Orioles took him in round seven. Although he has one more year of eligibility, this is almost certainly the last season that Matt Price will don the garnet and black.
It will be impossible to replace the bear, but USC fans should be grateful that he was around to protect the cave.