OMAHA, Neb. -- It was a long road to Omaha for Texas A&M, having not played in the College World Series for 12 years.
And now it will be a long road in Omaha if the Aggies hope to make their presence felt in the 2011 CWS after a 5-4 loss to defending champion South Carolina.
The Aggies didn't have to look far for inspiration, though, with the team that beat them Sunday at TD Ameritrade Park having won six in a row last season after losing the opener.
"South Carolina did it last year, lost the first game and won it all," said A&M left fielder Brandon Wood. "I mean this team, we've done it the hard way up to here and we just got to keep on doing it."
A&M (47-21) had to go the distance in winning its regional and then the super regional in Tallahassee, but this will be different with the Aggies only playing one elimination game each of the past two weekends.
This time, to avoid going home early, the Aggies must win four straight, starting at 1 p.m. on Tuesday against California, a 4-1 loser to No. 1 Virginia.
"I think what we've been through for the last month has really helped our team, helped us grow, helped us get closer together," said A&M coach Rob Childress. "Getting to that necessary game in our regional helped us, winning last weekend on the road in Tallahassee, with the pressure. Our guys are resilient."
Childress and the Aggies may not have been in the predicament they find themselves in if not for Scott Wingo and a Gamecock bullpen that completely shut down the Aggies.
Wingo went 4-for-4 and drove in the winning run with no outs and the bases loaded in the ninth.
With five infielders pulled in with hopes of making a play at home, the senior second baseman, down to his last strike, drove a pitch to the wall in right field to leave no doubt the Gamecocks (51-14) would have an easier route in defending their title than they did in winning it for the first time.
"Whatever I said it didn't work, we didn't get [Wingo] out all night," Childress said in reply to what he told closer Nick Fleece while bringing in Scott Arthur as a fifth infielder. "We'd been in that same spot a couple years ago and it just happened to go our way. Everything has to work out in your favor for us to get out of that and it did two years ago against Baylor and tonight it just didn't happen."
Kyle Martin (2-3) started the ninth for starter Ross Stripling after the junior with a 14-2 record threw 114 pitches.
Senior catcher Robert Beary greeted Martin with a double to the right-field fence. He said he thought of going for third, but with Naquin's arm in right, was held up at the last second by the third base coach.
"Before I walked up to the plate, I was talking to myself, saying I got to hit one for my father," said Beary. "He's in Afghanistan, so he couldn't be here today."
Last year's CWS Most Outstanding Player Jackie Bradley Jr., who hadn't played since April 23 because of a wrist injury, went up to bunt, but was unsuccessful and then poked a single into left field off Fleece, who had come in for Martin.
Fleece then walked leadoff hitter Evan Marzilli, setting the stage for Wingo.
"I didn't consider bringing Ross back [in the ninth], he was done," said Childress. "Kyle Martin needed to go and hopefully give us three or six outs. Nick Fleece wasn't a guy we could spread out over the course of seven, eight nine outs. When the runner got in scoring position it was time to bring Nick in and try to extend the game."
A&M couldn't have asked for a much better start or for more help from the Gamecocks.
First baseman Christian Walker was unable to field Aggie leadoff hitter Naquin's grounder. A pitch later, Naquin was on second base when Krey Bratsen put down a perfect sacrifice.
Matt Juengel walked and Jacob House, who beat South Carolina with a pinch-hit grand slam while playing for Arkansas in 2008, singled up the middle to drive in Naquin, who just beat the throw from Bradley.
Kevin Gonzalez walked a batter later to load the bases and Wood, who got the big hit in the first super regional game against Florida State, found the right-field line for a three-run triple and a 4-0 Aggie lead.
"Offensively, we picked up where we left off at Florida State," said Wood. "Got on base, strung together a bunch of good at-bats. Coach told me in batting practice I was going to hit a triple opposite field and he was right."
All the runs were unearned against Michael Roth, who came in with a 1.02 ERA and not having given up an earned run in 30 innings.
"I didn't adjust to the strike zone well enough in that inning," said Roth. "I've been through a situation like that before, giving up three in the SEC tournament in the first inning. It just wouldn't be South Carolina baseball if we didn't give a couple of runs in the first inning."
South Carolina squared the game at 4-4 in the bottom half of the first, with a walk, two singles, a balk, a throwing error on second baseman Andrew Collazo and an infield single.
With A&M up 4-1, Adrian Morales hit a ball to Collazo that scored one, but what looked like a sure out turned into another run when Collazo's throw went high and wide over a leaping House at first, allowing the Gamecocks' third run to score.
Despite having a four-run lead before throwing a pitch, Ross Stripling admitted to being anxious at the opening.
"I just wanted to come out and throw strikes and kind of deal with my nerves," said Stripling, whose balk was his first of the season. "[I was] kind of in over my head from the very beginning and just wanted to settle down as quickly as I could. I think I just wasn't quite ready for it, I guess, and then obviously they're a good hitting team."
Stripling and Roth settled in after the first with Roth giving up just two more hits in the next 6 1/3 innings and Stripling allowing only four more hits through eight.
"I think everyone was a little anxious, both dugouts and everybody on the field," said Childress. "Talking eight runs and I think only two of those were earned, so it wasn't just the guys on the mound who were a little bit nervous."
With both starters posting zeros the rest of the way, it turned out to be the bullpen that decided the game.
South Carolina's John Taylor pitched an inning of flawless ball and closer Matt Price (6-3), who has 18 saves, came in to get the win without giving up a baserunner in 2/3 of an inning.
"Their bullpen was better than ours tonight, it was pretty evident," said Childress. "We definitely didn't have a good chance [in the last three innings]. Both guys came in and did what they've done all year long."
After the four-run first, A&M had two baserunners in scoring position and both had walked. Matt Juengel made it to second on a hit-and-run groundout by House in the fifth. Gonzalez opened with a walk in the sixth and made it to third via a Wood sacrifice bunt and a Kenny Jackson ground out.
Gonzalez was left stranded when Collazo, who was 0-for-4, grounded out to second.
NOTES -- South Carolina was the last team to win with a walk-off at Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series for 61 years and the first to do the same at the new TD Ameritrade Park. ... Scott Wingo scored the winning run last year in a 2-1 victory that gave the Gamecocks the national title over UCLA. ... South Carolina is undefeated, 7-0, in the NCAA Championships. ... A&M is 2-9 in CWS games, 1-4 in the opening game. ... The crowd of 23,395 was the second most ever to watch an A&M game, falling 511 short of when Rice and A&M played at Minute Maid in the Houston Classic in 2007.
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