Florida runs out of fuel - South Carolina wins back-to-back titles

Fireworks shot off behind left field after the final out, and red and black streamers rained down on the pitching mound.
Cameras flashed, coaches hugged, ballplayers dog-piled. South Carolina won another College World Series title.

As for Florida's players and coaches? They watched from the dugout, their arms draped over the railing, their eyes following the celebration as frowns and tears surfaced. They stood together and kept watching from the first-base line, too, when the Gamecocks got their medals and their trophy.

Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan only wanted to show respect and class, and he knew it would be rude to quickly pack up and head for the bus. But it's a scene his players won't soon forget. Florida entered the College World Series championship round with a 3-0 record and blinders on. After getting swept by Texas in 2005 and going 0-2 in their return to Omaha last year, the Gators weren't leaving empty-handed.

And they aren't. Players and coaches hurried out of the park with their bags over their shoulders and small white boxes in hand. Inside them sat miniature second-place trophies. It's an unwelcome consolation prize for a Gators team that was confident this was its year. But the Gators ran into a buzz saw of a South Carolina squad, and they watched as the Gamecocks took the title from them with small ball and unmatchable resilience.

And while there are a lot of stats that could explain why the Gators produced three runs and zero wins with their first national title on the line, they don't matter to O'Sullivan.

The Gators got four good chances to take control of Tuesday night. In the first, fifth and sixth innings, they got runners on first and second with one or no out. Those innings ended with two flyouts, a strikeout, a double play, another strikeout and two groundouts.

Florida's best opportunity came in the eighth, when South Carolina pitcher Michael Roth was finally starting to tire. Mike Zunino doubled off the center-field wall with one out, and Roth exited after a groundout put the catcher on third. Josh Adams then singled off John Taylor to make it 4-2, and Tyler Thompson stepped up to the plate as a pinch hitter. On the third pitch he saw, he launched an offering deep into the left-field stands that landed just wide of the foul pole. Two pitches later, Thompson struck out.

A costly fielding error by shortstop Nolan Fontana led to two of the Gamecocks' three third-inning runs, but in the end, hitting 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven on base made coming all the way back impossible.

Although O'Sullivan is proud of the progress his team made in his fourth season at the helm, taking steps toward a title isn't a reward. The point, he said, is to win it all. Florida came almost exactly this close six years ago when it last played for a CWS title.

Different coaching staff and different players, but to Gators fans, it's a painfully similar result. Texas took the first game 4-2 and the next one 6-2 in 2005, and in those two games, Florida mustered 10 hits and left 14 on base. To Zunino, the cold reality of losing the national championship is more painful than going two-and-out as the Gators did in last season's tournament.

The Gators' team leader is only a sophomore, and only three of his teammates are seniors. The rest will get at least one more chance to come back to Omaha. And maybe next year, when the last out is caught and the fireworks boom and the streamers flutter, they won't be the ones stuck watching.