Nov. 16, 2011
Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina baseball team has announced its schedule for the 2012 season featuring 24 games against 2011 NCAA Tournament teams as well as 35 home games at Carolina Stadium. The back-to-back national champions open the season on Friday, February 17 hosting a three-game series vs. VMI. The schedule also includes 30 Southeastern Conference contests and a three-game series with in-state rival Clemson.
South Carolina and Clemson will meet for a third consecutive year in a unique three-game setting. The series opens on Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m. with Carolina and Clemson playing its neutral site game at Joe Riley Park in Charleston, S.C., home of the Charleston Riverdogs, a minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees. Game two of the series on Saturday, March 3 shifts to Columbia, as the Gamecocks will host the Tigers at 2 p.m. at Carolina Stadium. The series then concludes on Sunday afternoon with the finale at Doug Kingsmore Stadium slated for 2 p.m.
The Gamecocks’ 30-game SEC schedule begins on Friday, March 16 with South Carolina traveling to Kentucky. The rematch from last year’s National Championship Series at the College World Series will take place the week after as South Carolina and Florida meet at Carolina Stadium in the Gamecocks’ first home SEC series. Thursday’s series opener will also be televised on ESPNU as part of the SEC Game of the Week Package. That conference series will be followed up with a trip to Nashville, where the Gamecocks and Vanderbilt begin another three-game series between two schools that played in the 2011 College World Series.
The Gamecocks will also host Tennessee (April 6-8), Mississippi State (April 13-15), Alabama (April 26-28) and LSU (May 17-19). Other SEC road series include at Auburn (April 20-22), at Arkansas (May 4-6) and at Georgia (May 11-13). The Alabama series will also begin on Thursday and feature the SEC Game of the Week as well on ESPNU.
In addition to the Clemson series, South Carolina will play 11 in-state contests this year with Charleston Southern, College of Charleston, Francis Marion, Furman, Presbyterian, The Citadel, USC Upstate and Wofford.
The SEC Tournament is scheduled for May 23-27 at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. with the NCAA Regionals and NCAA Super Regionals the following two weeks. The College World Series in Omaha, Neb. is slated from June 16-27 at T.D. Ameritrade Park.
South Carolina is the back-to-back defending national champion in NCAA Division I Baseball after winning consecutive titles at the 2010 and 2011 College World Series. South Carolina has 10 College World Series appearances including five in the last 10 years under head coach Ray Tanner. Under Tanner’s leadership, South Carolina owns the fourth highest win total in the nation in the last 12 years with a 577-231 record. South Carolina is one of eight schools to appear in the NCAA Regional every season in the last 12 years including nine NCAA Super Regional appearances in that span, one of only five schools to accomplish the feat.
Carolina owns more overall wins than any SEC team in the last 12 years and more conference wins than any SEC team in the last 12 years with a 222-137 conference record. South Carolina is the only SEC school to record 40 or more wins each season from 2000-present and the only SEC school to reach the NCAA Regional every season in the last 12 years. The Gamecocks also have the most NCAA Super Regional appearances of the 12 SEC schools in the last 12 years.
Head coach Ray Tanner is the second winningest coach in Southeastern Conference history with a .699 winning percentage in 15 seasons at the helm of the Garnet & Black.
