Where South Carolina was picked to finish in preseason SEC baseball poll
South Carolina baseball has been picked to finish fifth in the SEC East for the 2020 season by the league’s coaches, while junior second baseman Noah Campbell made the league’s preseason all-conference second team, the conference announced Thursday.
The Gamecocks are coming off a disappointing 2019 in which they finished 28-28 and lost all but one of their 10 SEC series, finishing sixth in the East and bowing out in the first round of the SEC tournament. This year, D1Baseball.com projects Carolina as an NCAA tournament team, but it will have to contend with a typically strong SEC that includes defending national champion Vanderbilt and College World Series squads Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi State.
Campbell also had a subpar season in 2019 after being named a preseason All-American and dominating the Cape Cod League. He hit just .239 with a .324 on-base percentage and 47 strikeouts. However, he went back to the Cape Cod League this past summer and played well again, keeping it up with a strong fall. He’s considered a high-level MLB Draft prospect entering the season.
USC redshirt sophomore ace Carmen Mlodzinski did not pick up any preseason accolades despite being a projected first-round MLB Draft pick — the conference has a number of top-flight pitching prospects, including potential No. 1 overall pick Emerson Hancock out of Georgia, and only four starting pitchers earned preseason nods.
South Carolina baseball opens the 2020 season on Feb. 14 against Holy Cross at Founders Park. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
2020 SEC baseball coaches preseason poll
East
1. Vanderbilt (9 first-place votes) - 87
2. Florida (3) - 77
3. Georgia (2) - 76
4. Tennessee - 50
5. South Carolina - 48
6. Missouri - 32
7. Kentucky - 22
West
1. Arkansas (5) - 82
2. Mississippi State (4) - 73
T3. Auburn (2) - 67
T3. LSU (3) - 67
5. Texas A&M - 44
6. Ole Miss - 38
7. Alabama - 21
SEC Champion: Vanderbilt (8), Florida (2), Arkansas (1), Auburn (1), Georgia (1), Mississippi State (1)
2020 SEC baseball coaches preseason All-SEC teams
First Team
C: Casey Opitz, Arkansas
1B: Cade Beloso, LSU*
1B: T.J. Collett, Kentucky*
2B: Justin Foscue, Mississippi State
3B: Austin Martin, Vanderbilt
SS: Casey Martin, Arkansas
OF: Daniel Cabrera, LSU
OF: Alerick Soularie, Tennessee
OF: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
DH/UTL: Matt Goodheart, Arkansas
SP: Emerson Hancock, Georgia
SP: Asa Lacy, Texas A&M
RP: Tyler Brown, Vanderbilt
Second Team
C: Ty Duvall, Vanderbilt
1B: Josh Hatcher, Mississippi State*
1B: Rankin Woley, Auburn*
2B: Noah Campbell, South Carolina*
2B: Harrison Ray, Vanderbilt*
2B: Riley King, Georgia*
3B: Tyler Keenan, Ole Miss
SS: Jordan Westburg, Mississippi State
OF: Jud Fabian, Florida
OF: Tyler Gentry, Alabama
OF: Rowdey Jordan, Mississippi State*
OF: Zach DeLoach, Texas A&M*
DH/UTL: Tanner Allen, Mississippi State
SP: Kumar Rocker, Vanderbilt
SP: Tanner Burns, Auburn
RP: Cody Greenhill, Auburn
*Ties are not broken
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 2:08 PM.
