Where South Carolina baseball ranks in a national preseason poll

South Carolina baseball fans were not happy with where D1Baseball ranked their favorite team in their first preseason poll. The Gamecocks slotted in at #25 in the poll, a lower-than-expected ranking for many. Expectations are high in Columbia for the 2024 season, but it does not appear that the D1Baseball team shares those high expectations.

On Thursday, College Baseball Central released their preseason top-25, and South Carolina baseball fans were much more satisfied with their spot in those rankings than they were with D1Baseball's poll. The Gamecocks are 11th in the preseason poll from CBC.

USC is the 7th-ranked SEC program (out of 8 that made the top-25), and 6 of those 7 other SEC programs (Florida Gators, 2nd; Arkansas Razorbacks, 3rd; Tennessee Volunteers, 6th; Vanderbilt Commodores, 8th; Texas A&M Aggies, 9th; and Kentucky Wildcats, 24th) are on the Gamecocks' schedule in 2024. The Texas Longhorns (10th) will join the SEC next season along with Oklahoma (unranked).

The Gamecocks also will play the Clemson Tigers (14th) in the annual 3-game rivalry series and the North Carolina Tar Heels (17th) in their yearly midweek matchup. Carolina will play against Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss, three teams that were included in CBC's "others receiving votes" section of their top-25 poll.

The entire rankings from College Baseball Central can be seen below:

1. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
2. Florida Gators
3. Arkansas Razorbacks
4. LSU Tigers
5. TCU Horned Frogs
6. Tennessee Volunteers
7. Oregon State Beavers
8. Vanderbilt Commodores
9. Texas A&M Aggies
10. Texas Longhorns
11. South Carolina Gamecocks
12. Iowa Hawkeyes
13. Virginia Cavaliers
14. Clemson Tigers
15. Duke Blue Devils
16. NC State Wolfpack
17. North Carolina Tar Heels
18. East Carolina Pirates
19. Stanford Cardinal
20. Kansas State Wildcats
21. Oklahoma State Cowboys
22. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
23. UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos
24. Kentucky Wildcats
25. Indiana Hoosiers

College Baseball Central's spot in the rankings for USC is closer to how Perfect Game views the garnet and black as the Gamecocks were 13th in that preseason poll.

South Carolina baseball will begin their season in 28 days when they take on the Miami (OH) Redhawks on February 16th.