Bradley, Thomas, Gamecocks eliminate Oklahoma in 12

2010 COLLEGE BASEBALL POSTSEASON SPECIAL COVERAGE – NCAA TOURNAMENT COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

With sophomore outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. at the plate in the bottom of the 12th inning, the South Carolina Gamecocks were down to their final strike of the season.

Bradley kept his personal hitting streak alive long enough to knock in the game-tying run, then came home on Brady Thomas’ base hit to win.

Bradley’s and Thomas’ first hits of the game helped South Carolina come back from a 2-1 12th-inning deficit to beat Oklahoma 3-2 in a College World Series elimination game in Omaha, Neb., Thursday.

The Gamecocks (50-16) survive to face archrival Clemson on Friday. South Carolina must beat the Tigers twice to go to the CWS championship series.

Oklahoma (50-18) had taken the lead in the top of the 12th on Tyler Ogle’s leadoff homer.

The Gamecocks started off the bottom of the inning when Robert Beary drew a leadoff walk from Sooners reliever Ryan Duke. Beary then stole second to set the stage for Bradley, who came up with two down.

Bradley worked the count to 3-2 before pulling a pitch past diving first baseman Cameron Seitzer, scoring Beary to tie the game at 2 and extending his hitting streak to 19 games in the process.

But South Carolina wasn’t done. Jeffery Jones walked before Thomas singled up the middle to plate Bradley to set off a pinstriped mob at the plate.

In the second, Ogle scored Oklahoma’s only other run, when he led off with a single and scored on Caleb Bushyhead’s single to center.

That score held up until the eighth inning, when Evan Marzilli led off with a double, took third on Whit Merrifield’s bunt and scored on Christian Walker’s one-out single.

Reliever Tyler Webb (3-2) was the winning pitcher for the Gamecocks, but the real hero on the mound was starter Blake Cooper, who threw 97 pitches on three days’ rest.

Walker went 3-for-5 for South Carolina, and Marzilli was 2-for-6.

Sooners starter Zach Neal also twirled a gem, working seven innings in his first start in 11 days.

Duke (3-2) was the pitcher of record for Oklahoma.

Ogle went 2-for-3 to lead the Sooners at the dish.

NOTES: This was the teams’ second meeting in five days. Oklahoma beat South Carolina 4-3 Sunday. … The Gamecocks are 1-2 against the Tigers this season – winning the middle game of a three-game set in March.

BOX SCORE

Photo above: South Carolina's Jackie Bradley Jr. (19) scores the winning run Thursday. (Dave Weaver/AP)

Video credit – ESPN2