Jan. 4, 2007

Columbia, S.C. –
The South Carolina baseball team has been selected No. 6 in the Baseball America Preseason Top 50 rankings released on Thursday afternoon (January 4). It is the second consecutive Top 10 ranking the Gamecocks have received in the preseason. Carolina was also ranked No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball Preseason Top 40 released in late December. South Carolina will open its season on February 9, 2007 vs. Oklahoma at a tournament hosted by UNC Wilmington. The Gamecocks are the top ranked SEC school in this year’s preseason rankings. Other SEC teams ranked include Arkansas (No. 7), Vanderbilt (No. 8), Tennessee (No. 11), Ole Miss (No. 25), Georgia (No. 27), Kentucky (No. 30), Auburn (No. 36) and LSU (No. 50). Rice is the preseason No. 1 team in the nation.

South Carolina returns six position starters back from last year’s team that reached the NCAA Super Regional and also adds a recruiting class ranked No. 1 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball and No. 2 in the nation by Baseball America. Last year’s Super Regional appearance was Carolina’s sixth in the past seven seasons, making the Gamecocks one of only three teams in the nation to achieve that feat since the 2000 season. In that span, Carolina has reached the College World Series three times (2002, 2003, 2004), won two SEC championships (2000, 2002) as well as an SEC Tournament title (2004). Carolina’s seven consecutive years reaching the NCAA Regionals is also the longest current streak among all 12 SEC schools. Over the past seven years, the Gamecocks own a 342-135 record; the fourth highest win total in Division I Baseball as well as an SEC-best 130-79 record in conference match-ups.

BASEBALL AMERICA PRESEASON TOP 50
1.	Rice
2.	Miami (Fla.)
3.	Clemson
4.	Texas
5.	North Carolina
6.	South Carolina
7.	Arkansas
8.	Vanderbilt
9.	Virginia
10.	Wichita State
11.	Tennessee
12.	Georgia Tech
13.	UCLA
14.	Cal State Fullerton
15.	Tulane
16.	Oregon State
17.	Nebraska
18.	Florida State
19.	Pepperdine
20.	Arizona State
21.	Evansville
22.	Oklahoma State
23.	Winthrop
24.	TCU
25.	Ole Miss
26.	UC Riverside
27.	Georgia
28.	NC State
29.	Southern California
30.	Kentucky
31.	Stanford
32.	San Francisco
33.	San Diego State
34.	Oral Roberts
35.	Oklahoma
36.	Auburn
37.	Baylor
38.	UC Irvine
39.	Louisiana-Lafayette
40.	Michigan
41.	Texas Tech
42.	Central Michigan
43.	Delaware
44.	Elon
45.	Notre Dame
46.	San Diego
47.	Ohio State
48.	Miami (Ohio)
49.	Texas A&M
50.	LSU