East vs. West. SEC vs. Pac-10. Five Points vs. Hollywood.

Move past the geographical differences of these two programs and you'll see two similar teams built on pitching, defense and timely hitting.

"I think there are some similarities, just looking at the numbers," said South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner. "You know, they've got the power arms. We've got some pretty good arms. We pitch a little bit and that's one of the reasons we're still playing."

"Tremendous pitching," said UCLA head coach John Savage. "Their pitching reminds us a little bit of ourselves."

The teams are remarkably even on that stat sheet.  UCLA's team ERA is 3.01 to South Carolina's 3.53. The Bruins have struck out 687 batters while the Gamecocks have struck out 608. Opponents are hitting .217 against UCLA this season and teams are hitting .228 against South Carolina. The Gamecocks field the ball just a little better (.976 to .970).

It's difficult to even give any team the edge in mental toughness. While the Gamecocks were one strike away from the end of the season on Thursday against Oklahoma, UCLA faced a similar situation in Game 2 of its Super Regional against Cal State Fullerton. Down to their final out in the ninth inning, the Bruins rallied to force a decisive Game 3. It's been that type of composure that has helped each club reach the final series of the season.

"I never sensed any quit. I didn't sense any panic," said Savage. "The guys just kept on battling."

"At some point, you have to understand there is going to be a tremendous amount of adversity," said Tanner. "They've been through a lot and we've been through a lot. It's a credit to both teams and the players that have been able to survive it and move on."

At Sunday's press conference with the two final teams, both sets of players expressed respect and admiration for each other.

"They're an extremely resilient team," said Bruin pitcher Gerrit Cole. "They have quite a few tremendous players. A lot of big-game players. They're obviously a bunch of hard workers, a bunch of non-quitters."

"They have some arms, I'll tell you that. They can really pitch," said Gamecock outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. "But they're offensive. They've been putting it together this whole tournament and getting a lot of timely hits."

Monday Starters

Tanner remains undecided on his starter for Game 1 of the title series.  It's clearly too soon to see Sam Dyson or Michael Roth start.  A Monday start for Blake Cooper would only give him three days of rest after already pitching on three days rest last week. It's possible Tanner could go with Jay Brown or Tyler Webb on Monday.

Asking Dyson to start any of the championship games could be a tall order as the right-hander has thrown nearly 230 pitches in high temperatures in the span of five days. It's more likely to see him as an option out of the bullpen.

UCLA plans to start Cole on Monday. In his last start against TCU on Monday, Cole pitched eight innings, striking out 13 batters and allowing five hits and three earned runs.

"I'm an emotional, aggressive pitcher. I wear my heart on my sleeve," said Cole. "I like to pound the strike zone, attack with the fastball. Pretty basic three-pitch mix kind of guy."

"He's my favorite player to watch"

There's not many connections between the two squads that will face off for the national title this week. Gamecock outfielder Whit Merrifield, UCLA shortstop Niko Gallego and second baseman Tyler Rahmatulla all know each other from playing in the Cape Cod League last summer. Merrifield and Rahmatulla were roommates while playing for the Chatham Anglers. The Bruin second baseman has been unable to play in the CWS after breaking his wrist in the Super Regional.

"I feel awful that [Rahmatulla] can't play. We were talking [in the summer] about how cool it would be if we both ended up in Omaha and playing each other. And here it is," said Merrifield.

Bradley even has a fan on UCLA's roster.

"I just met Jackie," said Gallego. "I told him over there in the corner that he's my favorite player to watch."

Best-of-Three Format Better for Baseball

Although this is South Carolina's fourth trip to the finals of the College World Series, it will be their first shot at playing in the best-of-three format. The Gamecocks reached the finals twice in the 1970s, losing to Texas and Arizona State. In 2002, South Carolina came out of the losers bracket and had to play Texas hours after beating Clemson to advance to to the title game.

"We had finished on an early evening on Friday and we had a noon game on Saturday set up for television," said Tanner. "We were energetic, but it was a short turnaround."

Tanners said the current format fits better with what players and coaches prepare for all season.

"You get a variety of pitchers out there in the games, whether it's a two-game or three-game set," he said. "We're all used to the series mentality. I think it's the right way to do it."

Both Clubs Seeking First National Title

The final chapter at Rosenblatt Stadium will see a first-time national champion in college baseball.

"It really is an honor to be playing in it. At the beginning of the fall, we set out to get here, but we didn't set out to just get here," said Merrifield. "We wanted to do something that our university has never had and that's a national championship."

At UCLA, the school with the most NCAA team championships, there's an additional motivation to bring back a title.

"Every day we go in our Hall of Fame room and we go in the weight room and you see all the national championships and baseball doesn't have anything underneath it," he said. "So I guess it's a gut check every time you see it. And knowing that you could do something special and put it up there."