Pankake Earns Preseason Honors

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina junior infielder Joey Pankake earned second-team Preseason All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) as announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Pankake is one of the top returning hitters in the SEC and the country. A participant in last year’s Home Run Derby at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Pankake raised his average to .311 last year to go along with 11 homers and 42 RBI and a slugging percentage of .496.  Perfect Game USA ranks him No. 30 on the list of top college draft-eligible players for the 2014 MLB Draft with Baseball America listing him No. 40 in the nation.

South Carolina won the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 2010 and 2011 at the College World Series. South Carolina has 11 College World Series appearances, including six in the last 12 years. South Carolina is the only school with 200 or more wins in the last four years (2010 to the present) with a 201-70 record, and the Gamecocks own the second-highest win total in the nation in the last 14 years (2000 to the present) with a 669-271 record.

South Carolina is one of five schools to appear in the NCAA Regional every season in the last 14 years, including 11 NCAA Super Regional appearances in that span, one of only two schools to accomplish the feat.

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