No three-run homer was necessary this time. A 40-foot bunt did just fine.

South Carolina advanced to its third straight College World Series with a 5-1 win over Oklahoma on Monday, finishing a rain-suspended game with exactly the kind of contribution that has defined the season. Missing several veterans from a back-to-back national champion and working in several of the freshmen and newcomers that were being counted on to fill the holes, USC (45-17) had to win this year with a mix of old and new.

On Monday, the new was in the form of freshman outfielder Tanner English, who dropped a two-strike bunt that ended up scoring USC's first run on a botched play, and who later delivered another two-out bunt that scored a run. Junior-college transfer Chase Vergason broke the game open with a two-run double in the eighth inning, and that cleared the way for the old to do what he does best.

Grizzled veteran closer Matt Price, brought in in the seventh inning of a 2-0 game, had all the ammunition he needed. Once again asked to lock down a huge game, Price tugged his cap down, scowled at the next hitter and got the job done.

Before the Gamecocks knew it, Price was looking at Dylan Neal with a 1-2 count, one man on and two outs in the ninth. Price threw, Neal check-swung, catcher Dante Rosenberg appealed to first, and the umpire pumped his fist. As Price spread his arms to welcome his battery mate, Rosenberg tagged Neal just to make sure, then sprinted to the closer's embrace to start the traditional dogpile.

It's become routine, but nobody took this for granted. After beginning the season 1-5, after losing so many names that had been such a huge part of back-to-back titles - the Gamecocks are back, one more time, in college baseball's lead showcase.

"I'm kind of at a loss for words," coach Ray Tanner said, after clinching his sixth Omaha trip in 11 years. "Sometimes they even out. We ended up getting some games back. We started winning our share in the league."

The Gamecocks will play Florida, who they beat for the 2011 national championship, at 9 p.m. on Saturday in Game 4 of the College World Series. They will head to Omaha soon, with practice and opening ceremonies at TD Ameritrade Park scheduled for Thursday.

But Monday was about enjoying and remembering. It hasn't been the typical year, and it wasn't won in the typical way that USC has claimed its past two Super Regionals, but it was still a win.

"We don't know (how we keep winning)," said Price, who tied Joshua Fields' SEC career record with his 41st save. "After those SEC tournaments, we don't really like the practices. Once we start the postseason, we just try to go out and win every at-bat and every pitch."

After a rain delay shorted out Sunday's game - and knocked apart a pitcher's duel between OU's Jonathan Gray and USC's Colby Holmes - the Gamecocks took the field on Monday hoping to squeeze in the final few innings. A light rain began falling but USC played through it, starting the seventh with a double from Connor Bright.

Up stepped English, USC's strikeout leader, and worked a 1-2 count. With two strikes, Tanner played percentages. The man who used to live by the home run and who had taken advantage in each of the past two years with a Christian Walker three-run homer in the eighth inning of Super Regional Game 2 told English, even with two strikes, to bunt.

"It's been a while since I got a bunt fair down," English said. "Figured I was due. Coaches trust me in doing that and it was a good situation to do it."

English laid the bunt down and first baseman Evan Mistich charged, but threw wildly to third base as TJ Costen, pinch-running for Bright, tried to advance. Costen hit the dirt and the ball bounded away; Costen picked himself up and streaked home, sans helmet, for the game's first run.

Vergason bunted English to third after he had run to second on the wild throw, and a wild pitch brought English home. Oklahoma got one run back, but then Adam Matthews began the eighth with a single to right.

LB Dantzler also singled before Costen struck out, leaving it up to English again. English again dropped a bunt, it again went to no-man's-land, and a run scored.

Vergason broke the game open with a two-run double to left, and with Price on the hill, the Gamecocks prepared to celebrate. "This guy to my right has been in the most critical games you can be in in your career," Tanner said afterward, and ever stoic, Price shrugged aside the praise.

"I get nervous all the time," Price said. "I think it's always good to have a little nervousness in you. You have the butterflies, that's a good sign."

Price allowed a leadoff single in the eighth but struck out his next two batters before retiring Cody Reine on a flyout to center. The first two OU batters in the ninth went down in order before Mistich walked.

With the crowd standing and clapping, Price again faced a batter to clinch a championship. As he has so many other times, he cocked, wound, fired - and got strike three.

He handled the third different catcher tackling him like a champion, and the rest of the Gamecocks piled on top. USC had youthful moments this year, a batting approach that went away from the homer, and inconsistent starting pitching - but won anyway.

The Gamecocks will be back in Omaha, with a different cast, but still the back-to-back national champs who have a chance at a third. "Since I was 12, I've been thinking about what it'd be like," Vergason said. "It's almost surreal. It's here. I get to do it. I can't wait."

Tanner, the architect, relaxed and seemed as comfortable as he was before the championships came rolling to USC. "When I got here, I believed there was an opportunity," he said. "Tradition was here. It's not something you take for granted. We had the three-year run, (2002-04), then we played some good baseball, but we didn't get back for a while. Now we're back again.

"I think it's incredible. Of all the things that have happened in college sports and the NCAA, yeah, I'm biased, but it really doesn't get any better than the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska."

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