South Carolina Baseball: SEC to implement new schedule format

The SEC is expanding. The University of Texas and Oklahoma University are joining the conference a year earlier than originally expected, starting with the 2024 college football season. For baseball, the teams’ first year in the conference will be in 2025, and South Carolina baseball and the other thirteen SEC programs will welcome them into the league with a new schedule format.

Last week, Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball reported that the SEC will begin using a 2+8 schedule in 2025 when the former Big 12 schools join the conference. What this means is that every team will play a series against two permanent opponents each season, and the other 13 teams will rotate on the schedule for the eight additional series played each season. A 30-game conference schedule is already in place, so, theoretically, the changes do not make things more difficult for SEC programs in terms of their postseason resumes.

As of now, there have been no formal announcements and permanent opponent pairings are not known. Several rivalries (Mississippi State-Ole Miss, Auburn-Alabama, Texas-Oklahoma, Vanderbilt-Tennessee, etc.) would make sense to continue, but nothing is certain. Part of the new schedule format is the removal of divisions, much like fans have seen the past decade in SEC basketball. Because of this, Carolina’s yearly series vs. Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt could be in jeopardy.

This season, the Gamecocks have the best record in the nation at 20-2 and are ranked by D1Baseball as the #11 team in the nation. Currently, four SEC programs are ahead of South Carolina in the poll: LSU (1), Florida (3), Vanderbilt (4), and Arkansas (5). Tennessee (12), Ole Miss (13), Texas A&M (21), Missouri (22), and Kentucky (23) are ranked behind South Carolina baseball in the poll.