TWO HUNDRED and ninety teams began the college baseball season dreaming of a national championship. Now one stands alone atop the heap as winners of the final College World Series ever played at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Read these words carefully, and let them sink in because they have never before been spoken in a major sport: The University of South Carolina is the national champion.

“You try to be one of the best one day,” said USC coach Ray Tanner as he sported a national champions T-shirt and stood near home plate moments after his team’s dramatic, 2-1, 11-inning victory against UCLA. “Many times, it’s just a dream, but sometimes it becomes reality.”

The reality is that this national crown was won not just for a coaching staff led by Tanner, who took over a foundering program 14 years ago and guided it Tuesday night to unprecedented heights.

“It’s really indescribable,” Tanner said. “I’ve never really been in this position, so I don’t know how to act. I’m so happy for this great university, its players and coaches and the fans who came out here with us.”

This is a championship won not just for the 35 players, who from seldom-used Parker Bangs to steady second baseman Scott Wingo, never wavered in their belief that a national championship could be realized.

“Being our first national championship, this is definitely where our university is headed,” said Wingo, who raced home from third base with the winning run on Whit Merrifield’s single. “We’re headed in the right direction.”

It is a championship won for an entire athletics program, one that for most of its existence virtually has been void of success on the national level.

“Maybe we can bury the chicken curse,” said Eric Hyman, USC’s athletics director. “I’m so happy for the Gamecock nation. I’m so happy for our fans. This shows we can do it.”

Finally, it is a championship won for the state of South Carolina, which so desperately longs to have its name atop a national list for something good.

“I’m so happy for the great state of South Carolina,” Tanner said.

So, as you drink your cup of coffee this morning, it is quite OK to puff your chest and carry your head high. Raise that cup in toast to a team that made its athletics department, its city and its state proud.

“This game tonight is the epitome of what this team is all about,” Tanner said.

In typical fashion, USC got sterling pitching from starter Michael Roth and a quartet of relievers, most notably Matt Price. The pitching staff has kept USC in games throughout the postseason, often waiting around until the offense could kick into gear.

On this night, USC waited UCLA out until the 11th inning, when Wingo led off with a walk, advanced to second base on a passed ball, then to third base on Evan Marzilli’s sacrifice bunt.

Merrifield then came to the plate and watched consecutive fastballs from UCLA reliever Dan Klein that sailed high and away for balls. Merrifield lined the next pitch into right field and Wingo nearly scored the winning run before the ball fell on the Rosenblatt grass.

“I got into a hitter’s count and he threw me a strike,” Merrifield said. “I found a hole, and it was just elation. I can’t even describe it.”

The big playmakers in Tuesday’s win will be remembered — no doubt, forever — as the ones who led USC in the series-clinching game. But they were only the latest heroes and latest contributors in a journey that began innocently enough with the start of the NCAA tournament on June 4.

A two-run homer by Jackie Bradley and a three-run bomb by Adrian Morales got USC going in a come-from-behind win against Bucknell. Then Blake Cooper outdueled first-round pick Asher Wojciechowski of The Citadel and Jose Mata’s bullpen work led USC past Virginia Tech to clinch the regional title.

The Super Regional games belonged to Price, who worked out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the opener, and Christian Walker, whose three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning sent USC to Omaha.

In Omaha, USC stubbed its toe out of the gate with a loss to Oklahoma. Then it got an outstanding performance from right-handed pitcher Sam Dyson to defeat Arizona State; a ninth inning, two-out single by Bradley, who was down to his and USC’s last strike, to turn away Oklahoma; a brilliant three-hitter from Roth, making his first start of the season, to beat Clemson; and yet another strong showing by Dyson to defeat Clemson and advance to the championship round.

Once there, USC seized the opportunity like it never has in a major sport. Cooper was at his career-best in spinning a three-hitter over eight innings to defeat UCLA in the opener. Then Merrifield etched his name into the annals of USC athletics history with his game-winning single.

The traditional dogpile occurred near second base, then players paraded the national championship trophy around the stadium. Finally, the team gathered near home plate for the official presentation to USC of its first national championship in a major sport.

It is a championship won for USC, the city of Columbia and the state of South Carolina.