Matthew Troupe will never forget the save that sealed the fate of a South Carolina team aspiring to achieve a championship three-peat at the College World Series in Omaha five years ago.
He was spotted a three-run lead but the freshman closer walked the bases loaded. That’s when Alex Mejia, the junior shortstop whom he considered to be a little league legend in Southern California, approached him on the mound with an memorable motivational speech.
“He gets really close to me,” Troupe recalled, “and he goes, ‘We worked way to f--- hard to get to this position right now.