(AP) -- South Carolina fans barely waited for outfielder Whit Merrifield's game-winning single to hit the ground before celebrating their school's first baseball national championship.

The crowd at Jillian's bar burst into cries of "Gamecocks" as second baseman Scott Wingo raced in from third to lift the University of South Carolina to a 2-1 victory over UCLA and a College World Series title.

It is South Carolina's first baseball championship and joins an NCAA title won by the women's track team in 2002 as the athletic department's biggest achievements.

Fans filled area bars and restaurants to watch the game in which South Carolina rallied for a tying run in the eighth inning before winning in the 11th.

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