USC Gamecocks Baseball

South Carolina baseball earning respect in national polls

South Carolina pitcher Braden Webb
South Carolina pitcher Braden Webb online@thestate.com

South Carolina is moving up in national polls after going 5-0 in games this past week, including a sweep of Arkansas in its SEC series opener.

The USA Today Coaches’ Poll vaulted the Gamecocks from No. 12 to No. 10, while USC went from unranked by Baseball America up to No. 17. Perfect Game, which also had USC unranked, now has Carolina at No. 19.

South Carolina is up to No. 14 in the D1Baseball.com top 25, and Collegiate Baseball has the Gamecocks ranked No. 13.

USC is 20-2 and off to its best start since 2004, when it also opened the season 20-2.

The Gamecocks earned midweek wins over USC Upstate and Davidson last week before sweeping Arkansas, which was ranked No. 17 at the time, according to Baseball America.

South Carolina plays its first three-game road series of the year this weekend when it travels to No. 7 Ole Miss.

USC rankings by poll:

USA Today Coaches’ Poll: 10

Collegiate Baseball Poll: 13

D1Baseball.com Top 25: 14

Baseball America: 18

Perfect Game: 19

Collegiate Baseball Poll

Voting is done by coaches, sports writers and sports information directors:

Team

Record

Prv

1. Florida

21-1

1

2. Oregon St.

15-2

6

3. North Carolina

17-2

7

4. Texas A&M

18-2

3

5. Miami, Fla.

16-4

5

6. Mississippi

19-2

8

7. Louisville

16-4

4

8. Vanderbilt

17-3

2

9. Texas Christian

16-3

11

10. Missouri St.

17-2

12

11. Mississippi St.

14-6-1

13

12. Clemson

16-3

19

13. South Carolina

20-2

20

14. Florida St.

15-5

9

15. LSU

14-5

10

16. Virginia

15-6

14

17. UC Santa Barbara

15-3

21

18. Florida Atlantic

15-3

15

19. N.C. State

16-6

23

20. California

11-6

16

21. Georgia Tech.

15-4

25

22. Alabama

13-6

NR

23. Brigham Young

18-2

NR

24. Long Beach St.

14-6

29

25. UCLA

11-7

30

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 3:15 PM with the headline "South Carolina baseball earning respect in national polls."

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