With first pitch days away, South Carolina baseball left out of every preseason poll
South Carolina baseball is just days away from first pitch. In fact, the Gamecocks will begin the Paul Mainieri era this Friday when the Sacred Heart Pioneers come to town for a three-game set at Founders Park.
The vibes around the program and among the USC fanbase are pretty good. Mainieri has pledged to fix some of the most glaring issues from the Mark Kingston era, and there is optimism that he will. However, national college baseball voices do not share that same optimism.
As of Monday, South Carolina has been left out of every major preseason ranking.
Win tickets to Sacred Heart Game 1: Season opener, Paul Mainieri’s debut
D1Baseball, the top poll in college baseball, ranked nine SEC teams. Aaron Fitt, Kendall Rodgers, and company also included eight total USC opponents in their top 25.
Perfect Game pushed those numbers even further. 10 SEC teams earned spots in the outlet’s top 25 as did nine total Gamecock foes.
Baseball America’s preseason poll matched Perfect Game with 10 ranked SEC teams and nine on the South Carolina schedule.
11 SEC teams and 10 USC opponents cracked the USA Today Coaches Poll. That poll reveals the “others receiving votes” recipients, as well, but the Gamecocks didn’t earn a single vote.
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The National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) also put 11 SEC programs in its top 30. Again like the poll from USA Today, 10 teams from the 2025 USC schedule earned inclusion. South Carolina baseball was among the “others receiving votes” group, but the NCBWA did not detail how close any of those teams were to the top 30.
College Baseball Central ranked 10 total Southeastern Conference teams and nine who will meet up with the Gamecocks in 2025. Had the rankings continued, Carolina would have been 27th based on their place in the poll’s “others receiving votes” section.
Win tickets to Sacred Heart Game 2: Ray Tanner Field dedication ceremony
Winning is the only way for South Carolina baseball to prove that their internal expectations are correct and that the national voices are too low on the Gamecocks.
That road will begin on Friday with Sacred Heart. First pitch for Friday’s season opener is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Founders Park. Saturday’s game two will begin at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday’s finale starts at Noon. None of the three games will broadcast on traditional television, but SEC Network+ will stream them all. Senior Dylan Eskew will get the ball for game one, and fellow senior Matthew Becker will throw on Saturday. For now, Coach Mainieri hasn’t announced the starter for the series finale, but Jake McCoy should be the top option.
