The defending national champion South Carolina Gamecocks pick up their first win in the 2011 College World Series in dramatic fashion. Scott Wingo blasted a bases-loaded, 1-2 fastball to deep right field against Texas A&M to give the Gamecocks the 5-4 walk-off victory Sunday night in Omaha.
The Aggies (47-21) grabbed a 4-0 lead early as they got to South Carolina (51-14) starter Michael Roth in the top of the first inning. It was the bases-loaded triple from Brandon Wood that broke the game open for Texas A&M that took that four-run lead to the bottom of the 4th inning. But they would not finish the first inning with that lead.
South Carolina responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the 1st inning off of Texas A&M starter, Ross Stripling. An error by Texas A&M second baseman Andrew Collazo scored two runs for the Gamecocks and was key in the four-run first inning for South Carolina.
Both starters settled down after the first inning and another run wasn't scored until Wingo's game-ending blast in the 9th inning. Stripling went 8 solid innings for Texas A&M giving up just two earned runs on seven hits, while striking out six. Roth went 7.1 innings for South Carolina without surrendering an earned run, while scattering four hits. Of the 9 runs scored on the day between both teams, only three of them were earned. That's with only one error from each team, both of which came in the first inning.
Both of these teams took advantage early of the opportunities that presented themselves. Scott Wingo had a tremendous game for the Gamecocks as he finished 4-4 with a run scored and one very important RBI. South Carolina won the 2010 College World Series on a walk-off hit in the 11th inning against UCLA in the last game at Rosenblatt stadium. Now they've opened up the brand new TD Ameritrade Park with its' first walk-off win.
South Carolina now plays Virginia on Tuesday night at 7pm ET in the winner's game of Bracket 2. Texas A&M plays California Tuesday afternoon at 2pm ET in an elimination game.