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Today will be another day of celebration for the South Carolina baseball program. There’s a good reason for that.
The Gamecocks open their 2012 season with a 3 p.m. game against VMI at Carolina Stadium, their first game since last June in Omaha, when they defeated Florida to capture their second consecutive national championship.
This feel-good story had USC fans feeling twice as good by the time their conquering heroes came home, a triumphant return that set off a second year of off-season festivities.
Now it’s time to start a new campaign, but not before taking a quick glance back by having the Most Outstanding Players of the past two College World Series titles, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Scott Wingo, throw out ceremonial first pitches today.
It’s easy to appreciate what Ray Tanner has done in elevating a traditionally strong program into one that is the best in the nation. He does things the right way and expects his staff and players to do the same, his teams always compete to the last out, and he handles the role of university ambassador with great affability and accessibility.
And it’s really no wonder that many more fans now embrace the start of baseball season with an excitement that once was reserved for the diehards. Of course, with that excitement come heightened expectations, a fact of life that everyone around the program accepts.
Tanner has taken the Gamecocks to 12 consecutive 40-win seasons and appearances in the NCAA tournament, a feat that has become the bare minimum of what fans expect. With nine Super Regional and five CWS appearances – now capped by the consecutive championships – Tanner has raised the bar even higher.
But he doesn’t flinch. Playing in the SEC, his teams must navigate college baseball’s best conference before they can even get the opportunity to hurdle the three levels of playoffs – a four-team regional, a two-team Super Regional and an eight-team College World Series field.
Although his last two teams have skillfully done that, and made it appear easier than it really is , Tanner knows baseball can be an unforgiving game where things don’t always fall neatly into place.
So much has gone their way the past two seasons – most of it due to a combination of smart coaching decisions, stellar pitching and defense, and the timeliest of hitting – that some people might think it’s always going to be that way.
Even when things haven’t gone their way – such as last season’s rash of injuries that might have torpedoed a weaker-willed team – the Gamecocks have refused to give in. Tanner summed up his game-day philosophy with two simple words, “Win anyway.” His players used the word “battle” so much last season to describe their approach to the game that it became a running gag among them.
Fans should rightfully celebrate one more time today before the hard reality of attempting to win another championship kicks in. Only one program in the history of college baseball has won more than two straight national titles. That was Southern California, which won five in a row from 1970-74, an era when there was far less competition and far less investment in baseball by schools across the country.
Only four other programs have won two in a row – Texas (1949-50), Stanford (1987-88), LSU (1996-97) and Oregon State (2006-07). Of those four, only LSU made the NCAA tournament again in pursuit of a third consecutive national title.
So it’s hard.
But Tanner knows that and accepts the challenge. His program, with its talented players, top-notch staff, tremendous facility, amazing fan support, and hard-nosed attitude, might not win it all again, but it will not go down without, yes, a battle.
That’s why everyone in sold-out Carolina Stadium should enjoy today’s celebration. Who knows when it might happen again? Fans shouldn’t get too hung up on a “three-peat.” Appreciate what’s taking place right in front of you, no matter whether this season ends again in Omaha or not.
It’s a special era in USC baseball, and there’s nothing more special than the promise Opening Day holds.
