Tigers ranked in top 25 in final baseball polls |
TUCSON, Ariz. - The University of South Carolina (55-14) is ranked No. 1 in
the final 2011 "Collegiate Baseball" newspaper NCAA Division I baseball poll. The Gamecocks won their second consecutive national championship in baseball at the College World Series last Tuesday with a 5-2 win over Florida to sweep the championship series two games to none over the Gators. South Carolina broke two NCAA records in the process of winning back-to-back titles as the Gamecocks have now won 11 consecutive College World Series games dating back to last season and 16 straight games in NCAA tournament action (Regionals, Super Regionals, College World Series). South Carolina finished with a team ERA of 0.88 in five College World Series games, the fourth-lowest team ERA in CWS history and the lowest since 1972 (Arizona State, 0.68). The Gamecocks microscopic team ERA is the lowest by a CWS champion since California in 1957 (0.60). The "Collegiate Baseball" newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's
Baseball America
DURHAM, N.C.—South Carolina won its second straight national championship to finish atop Baseball America's final Top 25 rankings for the second year in a row. The Gamecocks were also ranked No. 1 on May 23 before going 1-2 in the Southeastern Conference to fall to No. 4 in the final regular-season rankings, but they bounced back with a 10-0 romp through the NCAA tournament.
Florida, which began and ended the regular season ranked No. 1, reached the CWS Finals and finished second in the postseason rankings. Fellow SEC East juggernaut Vanderbilt ends the season ranked fourth, while Atlantic Coast Conference powers Virginia and North Carolina round out the top five at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively.
Four teams won regionals to vault into final rankings, led by California, which leapt up to No. 11 by reaching the College World Series and winning a game in Omaha. The Golden Bears were ranked 17th in the preseason and spent most of the season in the rankings before dropping out on May 9.
Super regional teams UC Irvine, Mississippi State and Dallas Baptist—all No. 3 seeds in regionals—entered the rankings at Nos. 16, 17 and 18, respectively. The Anteaters were ranked 24th on May 23 before dropping back out of the rankings when they lost two of three to Long Beach State. But they rebounded to win a strong regional over UCLA and Fresno State. The Bulldogs and Patriots each make their first appearances in the Top 25 after winning regionals at Georgia Tech and Texas Christian, respectively.
The staff of Baseball America determines the Top 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games of June 28 and do not include ties.
Rk. Team W-L Prev. 1. South Carolina 55-14 4 2. Florida 53-19 1 3. Virginia 56-12 2 4. Vanderbilt 54-12 3 5. North Carolina 51-16 13 6. Texas 49-19 5 7. Texas A&M 47-22 7 8. Florida State 46-19 6 9. Arizona State 43-18 10 10. Oregon State 41-19 15 11. California 38-23 NR 12. Connecticut 45-20 18 13. Stanford 35-22 24 14. Cal State Fullerton 41-17 8 15. Rice 42-21 9 16. UC Irvine 43-18 NR 17. Mississippi State 38-25 NR 18. Dallas Baptist 42-20 NR 19. Texas Christian 43-19 11 20. Georgia Tech 42-21 12 21. Clemson 43-20 14 22. UCLA 35-24 17 23. Miami 38-23 16 24. Arkansas 40-22 19 25. East Carolina 41-21 23 Dropped Out: Florida International (20), Troy (21), Oklahoma (22), Southern Mississippi (25).
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