A game the state can be proud of

USC players gather to celebrate their 4-3 win over Clemson to earn a spot in the College World Series finals against UCLA.

Saturday night's Clemson-South Carolina game in the College World Series was certainly worthy of its position as a national semifinal.

The game involved two evenly matched teams of equal ability. South Carolina did a slightly better job of taking advantage if its opportunities and that was the difference in the game.

Both Clemson's Casey Harman and USC's Sam Dyson came back on shorter rest than usual and did their best to keep their teams in the game.

From reading Facebook posts after the game, it seems Clemson fans were focused more on what they perceived as the Tigers' offensive failures than the effectiveness of Gamecocks pitchers.

USC pitching coach Mark Calvi has developed an outstanding stable of pitchers. Other than a penchant for hitting batters, the Gamecocks don't beat themselves from the mound.

I haven't seen a replay of the Evan Marzilli steal in the seventh when Tigers coach Jack Leggett claimed batters interference against Whit Merrifield, so I can't comment on that. Facebook posts indicated the ESPN announcers felt the umpire missed the call.

USC is assured of no worse than being national runner-up for a fourth time.

Clemson fans are hurting, but the postseason experience is valuable for the Tigers who return in 2011.