USC No. 14 in Collegiate Baseball preseason poll

South Carolina is ranked No. 14 in the nation in the Collegiate Baseball Preseason Top 40 as announced Friday.

The Gamecocks begin the 2014 season on Friday, Feb. 14 in the first game of a three-game series against Bucknell at Carolina Stadium.

South Carolina is one of eight SEC schools to be ranked in the preseason poll. Also ranked is Mississippi State (No. 2), LSU (No. 3), Vanderbilt (No. 9), Florida (No. 16), Texas A&M (No. 25), Alabama (No. 29) and Ole Miss (No. 30). Cal State Fullerton is the preseason No. 1 team.

The Gamecocks return seven position starters, nine pitchers and 18 letterwinners from last year’s Super Regional team. Carolina also features a strong crop of newcomers that were ranked the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation earlier this fall by Baseball America.

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL’S PRESEASON TOP 401. Cal. St. Fullerton (51-10) 495

2. Mississippi St. (51-20) 493

3. Louisiana St. (57-11) 491

4. Oregon St. (52-13) 487

5. Florida St. (47-17) 485

6. Oregon (48-16) 483

7. Indiana (49-16) 481

8. Louisville (51-14) 479

9. Vanderbilt (54-12) 477

10. N.C. State (50-16) 474

11. North Carolina (59-12) 471

12. Virginia (50-12) 468

13. Miami, Fla. (37-25) 465

14. South Carolina (43-20) 463

15. UCLA (49-17) 460

16. Florida (29-30) 457

17. Rice (44-20) 455

18. Oklahoma St. (41-19) 454

19. Texas Christian (29-28) 451

20. Texas (27-24) 450

21. Clemson (40-22) 447

22. Arizona St. (37-22-1) 445

23. La.-Lafayette (43-10) 443

24. Arizona (34-21) 441

25. Texas A&M (34-29) 437

26. Stanford (32-22) 435

27. Cal. Poly (40-19) 432

28. Kansas St. (45-19) 430

29. Alabama (35-28) 423

30. Mississippi (38-24) 421

31. Western Carolina (39-20) 419

32. Oklahoma (43-21) 417

33. San Diego (37-25) 414

34. Wichita St. (39-28) 411

35. Liberty (36-29) 409

36. Tennessee Tech. (40-17) 404

37. New Mexico (37-22) 403

38. East Carolina (31-26) 400

39. U.C. Santa Barbara (34-23) 396

40. Coastal Carolina (37-23) 395

The preseason 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.

This story was originally published December 20, 2013 at 11:51 AM with the headline "USC No. 14 in Collegiate Baseball preseason poll."