Is South Carolina baseball back? Comparing past NCAA championship teams to 2023 Gamecocks

COLUMBIA — It has been 12 years since South Carolina baseball won an NCAA championship, but the 2023 Gamecocks look like the best chance to end that drought since the team's last College World Series appearance in 2012.

Longtime coach Ray Tanner, now the South Carolina athletic director, led the Gamecocks to back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011. They are one of just six programs in NCAA history to win consecutive titles but have not reached the College World Series since Tanner's retirement after the 2012 season.

South Carolina (36-4, 13-4 SEC) is ranked No. 3 in the country in the USA TODAY coaches' poll, its highest ranking since it was voted No. 3 on March 31, 2014. Of seven nationally-ranked SEC teams, the Gamecocks are second only to No. 1 LSU.

Is South Carolina baseball officially back? Here's how the 2023 team compares to the program's championship squads:

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Breaking down the wins and losses

By this time in each of their national championship seasons the Gamecocks had lost eight games. The 2023 team is entering the home stretch of the regular season with six losses, the best overall and SEC record.

South Carolina just concluded a brutal three weeks that included matchups with LSU, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Vanderbilt and then-No. 15 North Carolina. Three of the team's six losses came during that stretch, but the Gamecocks only dropped one series to Vanderbilt 2-1. They swept Florida in three games and split two games against the Tigers.

The 2010 and 2011 championship teams both won a series against perennial power Vanderbilt, but neither swept the Commodores. Neither team swept Florida either, though the 2011 Gamecocks did win the series and the Gators went on to finish the season ranked No. 3 in the nation.

2023 team led by sluggers

The 2023 Gamecocks are led by freshman star Ethan Petry averaging .427. Though they have yet to face the top pitching staffs in the SEC — Tennessee and Kentucky — the team batting average (.288) is higher than the 2011 team finished with. The 2010 team hit .300 with six batters hitting at or above that.

South Carolina's home run ability is its game-changing offensive weapon this season compared to previous championship years. The 2010 Gamecocks were led by Jackie Bradley and Whit Merrifield with 13 home runs each, and Christian Walker hit a team-high 11 homers in 2011. Petry leads the Gamecocks with 20 home runs and is one of five players in the starting lineup to hit at least 10 with 15 games left in the regular season alone.

Comparing the pitching staffs

South Carolina has the best ERA in the SEC at 3.23, and only three other teams in the conference have an ERA under four. After struggling early in the season, Gamecocks ace Will Sanders leads the team with 55 strikeouts.

Michael Roth, who went on to play three seasons in the majors, led the South Carolina pitching staff in 2011 with a 9-1 record in 21 starts and had the team's best ERA of 2.43. The other two regular starters, Colby Holmes and Jordan Montgomery, averaged less than one hit allowed per inning pitched. The 2010 Gamecocks had a deep pitching roster with six different players starting at least five games. The top two, Blake Cooper and Sam Dyson, combined for 227 strikeouts.

This year's South Carolina team is similarly deep with four players that have five-plus starts, and all of those starters except Sanders have an ERA under four. None of the pitchers has a high strikeout total, but the Gamecocks have a top-5 strikeout to walk ratio in the country.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina baseball back? Comparing 2023 Gamecocks, NCAA champs