Omaha, Neb. ? Now South Carolina gets to play in the ultimate elimination game.

The Gamecocks clinched a spot in the College World Series championship by beating state rival Clemson, 10-2, Friday, one week after opening the tournament with an 11-0 loss to Georgia Tech.

South Carolina's Trey Dyson (17) scores ahead of a tag by Clemson pitcher Matt Henrie. The Gamecocks won the College World Series elimination game, 10-2, Friday in Omaha, Neb.

“We like the city of Omaha and after we didn’t open very well we were doing our best to extend our stay,” coach Ray Tanner said. “We battled back the hard way and now we get a chance to play in the national championship game. It’s a tremendous feeling.”

The Gamecocks (57-17) beat their state rivals for the second time in three days and won their fourth straight elimination game. South Carolina will play Texas (56-15) for the national title today in a rematch of the 1975 championship, which Texas won, 5-1.

Steven Bondurant scattered eight hits and struck out seven in his second complete game of the season. He also got some unexpected offensive help from the bottom of the batting order. South Carolina’s last four hitters Garris Gonce, Brian Buscher, Landon Powell and Kevin Melillo combined to go 9-for-18 with nine RBIs.

“The guys at the top of the order just needed a little break. They were saving all their hits for tomorrow, so we thought we’d pick them up today,” said Gonce, who was 3-for-6 with three RBIs.

South Carolina had 13 hits and took advantage of three errors and three wild pitches. The Gamecocks completed a 4-0 run through the CWS that was made necessary after the shutout loss to Georgia Tech in the opener.

Southern California in 1998 was the last team to lose its opener and make it to today. The Trojans won it all that year by beating Arizona State 21-14.

Friday was the Gamecocks’ sixth win in an elimination game in the NCAA tournament.

“We don’t panic,” Gonce said. “We always seem to get the big hit when we need it, or a guy like Steven Bondurant steps up and throws the game of his life.”

Bondurant (7-4), a junior left-hander, had not pitched a complete game since a 4-3 win over Alabama on March 31, when he yielded nine hits. He held the Tigers to five hits through eight innings before giving up a run in the ninth.

Tanner said he was not sure who would start against the Longhorns, who did not have to play Friday after eliminating Stanford 6-5 Thursday night.

“There’s only two teams left,” Tanner said. “They’ve got a bunch of guys that can pitch. We’ve got a bunch of guys that can hit, so something’s got to give.”

Melillo was 3-for-5 with three RBIs, including a two-run single as South Carolina pulled away with a five-run eighth to head for its first title game since the loss to Texas in ’75.

“It wasn’t the first or third guy that had been having a good year. It was the bottom guys in the lineup that did the damage,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said.

Clemson opened the CWS 3-0 and needed to beat the Gamecocks just once to advance to today, but couldn’t do it after going 3-1 against South Carolina during the regular season.

This was the first time the Tigers have won three games in the CWS.

“I don’t want this game and the way it ended to destroy what these kids accomplished. No other team has done what we’ve done,” Leggett said.

Matt Henrie (13-5), who had a win and save in two relief outings, allowed five runs, three earned, over 2 2-3 innings in his first start of the CWS.

Shortstop Khalil Greene, who last Friday won the Dick Howser player of the year trophy from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and had just 11 errors for the season, committed three on Friday.

“I threw one away and missed two in the infield,” said Greene, who was 1-for-4. “I just thought they were fairly tough hops and it didn’t go my way in some respects today, but I’m not going to cry about it.”

Jeff Baker and Zane Green had RBI singles for Clemson, which trailed 10-1 entering the ninth. The game ended when Greene flied out to right with the bases loaded.