Oklahoma State Beats South Carolina 5-1 and Is Now One Win From Omaha

Oklahoma State has now outscored the two best college baseball teams in the state of South Carolina 26-5 in the last week. The Pokes touched off a touchy-at-the-end 5-1 win over South Carolina in Columbia on Saturday behind seven more gorgeous innings from Thomas Hatch and a pair of bombs from Ryan Sluder and Collin Theroux.

The home run by Theroux was a three-run ground-to-air missile in the top of the ninth that pushed the score from 2-0 to 5-0 which provided the breathing room Trey Cobb needed to close out Game 1 of the Columbia Super Regional. I held my breath for most of the bottom of the ninth after Cobb gave up a solo HR and two other Gamecocks reached base, but he whiffed the last batter for SC to get Hatch the W.

 
Hatch was the real star though. Having just been drafted in the third round of the MLB Draft he dazzled for seven innings surrendering just four hits and two walks against one of the best offenses in the nation.

So now OSU is just a single win from its first trip to Omaha this century. This century! It gets two shots at South Carolina on SC’s home field to go to the College World Series. The first comes at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.