Dec. 21, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina is ranked No. 35 in the nation in the Collegiate Baseball Preseason Top 40 as announced on Monday morning. The Gamecocks begin the 2016 season on Friday, Feb. 19 hosting Albany at Founders Park.

South Carolina is one of nine SEC schools to be ranked in the preseason poll. Also ranked is Florida (No. 1), Vanderbilt (No. 3), Texas A&M (No. 5), LSU (No. 7), Mississippi State (No. 11), Arkansas (No. 24), Kentucky (No. 29) and Missouri (No. 34).

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.

Rank – Team (2015 record) – Points
1. Florida (52-18) 495
2. Louisville (47-18) 492
3. Vanderbilt (51-21) 489
4. Miami, Fla. (50-17) 487
5. Texas A&M (50-14) 484
6. Louisiana-Lafayette (42-23) 483
7. Louisiana St. (54-12) 481
8. Oregon St. (39-18-1) 480
9. Virginia (44-24) 475
10. UCLA (45-16) 473
11. Mississippi St. (24-30) 469
12. Cal. St. Fullerton (39-25) 467
13. California (36-21) 466
14. Oregon (38-25) 463
15. Texas Christian (51-15) 461
16. Florida St. (44-21) 460
17. Missouri St. (49-12) 457
18. Houston (43-20) 455
19. Tulane (35-25) 453
20. Rice (37-22) 451
21. Georgia Tech. (32-23) 449
22. North Carolina (34-24) 446
23. Michigan (39-25) 444
24. Arkansas (40-25) 443
25. Oklahoma St. (38-20) 438
26. Stony Brook (35-16-1) 436
27. Notre Dame (37-23) 434
28. Maryland (42-24) 432
29. Kentucky (30-25) 430
30. Pepperdine (32-29) 427
31. Dallas Baptist (46-15) 425

32. College of Charleston (45-15) 423
33. Coastal Carolina (39-21) 421

34. Missouri (30-28) 419

35. South Carolina (32-25) 417
36. San Diego St. (41-23) 414
37. South Alabama (37-20) 411
38. Winthrop (40-19) 409
39. Texas Tech. (31-24) 407
40. Texas (30-27) 405

Other Teams Receiving Votes: Southern California (39-21), Southeastern Louisiana (42-17), Arizona St. (35-23), Florida Atlantic (42-19), Arizona (31-24), Oklahoma (34-27), Stanford (24-32), Auburn (36-26), Mississippi (30-28), Tennessee (24-26), Alabama (32-28), Georgia (26-28), San Diego (33-22), Iowa (41-18), Clemson (32-29), U.C. Irvine (33-23), Long Beach St. (28-26), U.C. Santa Barbara (40-17-1), Kent St. (31-22), Creighton (32-19), North Florida (45-16), Southern Mississippi (36-18-1), Nevada (41-15), Illinois (50-10-1), East Carolina (40-22), Wichita St. (26-33), New Mexico (32-27), Grand Canyon (32-22), Gonzaga (24-28), Loyola Marymount (33-21-1), Troy (30-25), Texas St. (24-32-1), Oral Roberts (41-16), Sam Houston St. (31-28), Wofford (39-22), Mercer (35-22), Samford (32-26), Central Florida (31-27), South Florida (34-26-1), Southeast Missouri (36-23), Bryant (29-25), Fresno St. (31-28), Central Michigan (35-22), Ball St. (33-25), Wright St. (43-17), N.C. Wilmington (41-18), Indiana (35-24), Radford (45-16), Liberty (33-23), St. John’s (41-16), Seton Hall (25-25), St. Louis (35-21), Stetson (29-30), Florida Gulf Coast (30-26-1), Lipscomb (39-20), Wake Forest (27-26), N.C. State (36-23), Connecticut (35-25).

The pre-season poll factors in voting by NCAA Division I coaches across the nation, how a team finished last season nationally, returning position player starters and pitchers, potential draft picks along with the quality of its recruiting class last fall.

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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.