Gamecocks Ranked 17th in Preseason Poll

By: USC SID

Columbia, S.C. (USC SID) — South Carolina is ranked No. 17 in the nation in the D1Baseball Preseason Top 25 as announced on Tuesday morning.  The Gamecocks begin the 2016 season on Friday, Feb. 19 hosting Albany at Founders Park.

South Carolina is one of seven SEC schools to be ranked in the preseason poll.  Also ranked is Florida (No. 1), Vanderbilt (No. 3), Texas A&M (No. 4), LSU (No. 7), Mississippi State (No. 15) and Arkansas (No. 25).  The Gamecocks will play 14 games against teams ranked in the Preseason Top 25.

The Gamecocks return five position starters, 13 pitchers and 23 letterwinners from last year’s team and will also feature a recruiting class that has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball.

The D1Baseball.com Top 25 Rankings are released each week of the regular season and formulated by national writers Aaron Fitt and Kendall Rogers.

D1Baseball Preseason Top 25
Rank    Team                    2015 Record
1.      Florida                 52-18
2.      Louisville              47-18
3.      Vanderbilt              51-21
4.      Texas A&M               50-14
5.      Oregon State            39-18
6.      Miami (Fla.)            50-17
7.      LSU                     54-12
8.      Oklahoma State          38-20
9.      California              36-21
10.     NC State                36-23
11.     UCLA                    45-16
12.     Southern California     39-21
13.     Virginia                        44-24
14.     Oregon                  38-25
15.     Mississippi State               24-30
16.     North Carolina          34-24
17.     South Carolina          32-25
18.     Louisiana-Lafayette     42-23
19.     TCU                     51-15
20.     Florida State           44-21
21.     Cal State Fullerton     39-25
22.     Houston                 43-20
23.     Texas                   30-27
24.     Coastal Carolina                39-21
25.     Arkansas                40-25

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South Carolina won the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 2010 and 2011 at the College World Series. South Carolina has made 11 College World Series appearances including six times in the last 14 years. In those 11 appearances, the Gamecocks have went 32-20 for a .615 winning percentage, that is sixth-best among winning percentage leaders in CWS history.

South Carolina is one of three schools in the nation to have reached at least 11 NCAA Super Regionals since 2000 and has the most NCAA Super Regional appearances of the 14 SEC schools since 2000. In addition the Gamecocks own the second-highest win total in Division I baseball since 2000 (745-314 record) and more conference wins than any SEC team since 2000 (288-189 record).

Recently, South Carolina is one of only five schools in the nation to host a NCAA Regional in five of the last six years.