Florida, South Carolina Reach College World Series Final

Friday's College World Series determined the two finalists. There will be no weekend games with the best-of-three final to begin Monday. Friday's scores were tight enough that there could have been two sudden death games to determine who went to the final. But Florida and South Carolina took care of business against Vanderbilt and Virginia.

Florida had the easier time in the afternoon, although the Gators blew a 4-1 lead to the Commodores late. But just as Vanderbilt revived itself, it was deflated all over again by two Florida runs in the eighth, to secure a 6-4 victory.

South Carolina pulled an even greater escape in the nightcap, and needed four extra innings to do it. Virginia took the defending champions to extras, and loaded the bases three times, yet failed to capitalize each time. Finally, two Cavaliers throwing errors on bunts helped the Gamecocks pull out a 3-2 victory in the 13th.

As such, the tournament is now left with nothing but SEC teams since Virginia's token resistance is over. Not only are two SEC clubs meeting in the best-of-three final, so are the only undefeated schools in the College World Series.

But there were Florida and South Carolina's tightest scores to date in Omaha, after they breezed to two straight opening wins. Yet these triumphs were more impressive than blowouts, since the Gators recovered from a big comeback and bullpen mistakes, and the Gamecocks came back from the brink time and again in extras.

South Carolina is already championship tested, having won 14 consecutive NCAA tournament games, and nine straight in Omaha over the last two years. Florida's resolve comes from having lived up to championship expectations all season.

The Gators now get to play on for their first national championship. But there could be no greater obstacle than the defending champions -- especially ones who are very familiar with Florida.

There hasn't been that much room for Cinderellas in the College World Series, except for California. Yet the rise of the Golden Bears, and the Commodores' first visit to Omaha, yielded some new blood to the field. However, things are ending just as everyone eventually expected, with South Carolina close to a repeat, and preseason favorite Florida standing in the way.

With the Gamecocks and Gators now all alone in the bracket, the two finalists will get a much needed weekend off, before starting Game 1 on Monday night.

Sources

Yahoo Sports- "Gamecocks beat Virginia 3-2 on wild finish in 13'th"

CBS Sports- "Florida climbs past Vandy in eighth for CWS finals berth"

NCAA.com- "NCAA Division I Championship Bracket"