The University of South Carolina baseball team’s amazing and unprecedented run to claim the College World Series is a great achievement not only for Gamecock nation, but for our entire state.

From the adroit coaching of Ray Tanner and his staff to the players’ out-of-this-world pitching, timely hitting and clutch defensive work, the baseball team proved more than up to the task as it scrapped and clawed to the championship round and then outclassed the Bruins of UCLA.

The process swept away a lifetime of frustration for USC’s athletic program and fan base, and injected new hope for the possibilities of every Gamecock sports team. The win over UCLA wasn’t just the school’s first NCAA baseball championship. It was the first national title of any kind for the men’s sports programs and only the second national title in the school’s history; the women’s track team won the other.

The College World Series is a grueling two-week challenge, with the last team standing taking the spoils. South Carolina had made it to three previous title games — twice under coach Tanner — but came up short each time. But not this year. Not this time. The Gamecocks showed guts and grit after losing their first game — going unbeaten the rest of the way. The team showed mental toughness and relentless effort in dispatching foe after foe — including taking two straight games from Clemson, which also represented the state well. ...

Will the baseball team’s phenomenal experience have a lasting effect on South Carolina sports fans, raising baseball to rival football for supremacy? Will success by the boys of summer push the school’s football and basketball teams to strive for even greater successes to stay ahead? That remains to be seen.

But for now, the Gamecocks are No. 1. And that makes us proud. Go Gamecocks!

The (Columbia) State