authenticguccishoes

OMAHA, Neb. — Depending on your perspective, South Carolina’s baseball team is either sitting on a perch or standing on a ledge.

A win tonight over Virginia and the Gamecocks fly off into the championship series, which begins Monday.

But two slips and they hit the ground.

Think it can’t happen? Scan the memory banks for Carolina, South, vs. Clemson, 2010. Or Carolina, South vs. Clemson, 2002.

Both years, the Gamecocks were in the same spot the Cavaliers are in this year: Win two or go home. Both times they won two to reach the championship round, taking their first national title a year ago.

“We’ve been on the other side,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said after the team’s practice Thursday at Creighton University. “If you don’t win tomorrow, the momentum kind of shifts.”

South Carolina defeated Texas A&M, 5-4, in the opener on Sunday and battered Virginia, 7-1, on Tuesday night to take control of the bracket. The Gamecocks say they aren’t about to squander the position.

“We’ve just got to go out and play our game,” said junior outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who batted cleanup and had a double and single in the first meeting with Virginia. “We’ve put ourselves in a really good situation and we’ve got to try to take advantage of it. If we don’t finish it off Friday, fortunately we do have the fall-back game.”

First baseman Christian Walker, who had two hits and drove in two runs Tuesday, said the team knows firsthand how quickly thinks can change. The Gamecocks won’t be looking past the Cavaliers, he said.

“We’re 100 percent focused, our heads are where they need to be,” Walker said. “We’re not taking anything for granted.”