For years, Florida State and Miami have put quality baseball programs on the field. Over the previous 25 years, the teams have combined for 24 appearances in the College World Series.
Miami has won four national championships on the diamond while the Seminoles hold the dubious distinction of having the most CWS appearances without a title. In 1999, it was the Hurricanes who defeated FSU in the decisive game.
While it isn’t uncommon for Florida State and Miami to meet as top-10 teams, neither team will enter the series, which begins Friday, with a national ranking by their name or even a winning record in conference play. In fact, the Hurricanes have a losing overall record this season.
With that said, this weekend’s series in Coral Gables is a big one. Both teams are 9-9 in ACC play and not only fighting for seeding in the ACC Tournament, but simply a spot in the NCAA Tournament. FSU right now has more of an inside track to accomplish that than Miami, but the Seminoles have a streak of 39 straight seasons with at least 40 wins that they would like to see stretched to 40.
For each team, the flaws have been noticeable in 2017. Offensively, Miami has the worst batting average in the ACC while only Notre Dame and Pittsburgh have scored fewer runs this season.
For FSU, defense has been an adventure as only the Fighting Irish have a worse fielding percentage as a team. The Seminoles committed also made more errors than any team in the conference.
Despite all of their flaws, both teams enter this weekend’s series playing well. The Hurricanes have managed to go 6-3 in their last nine games while FSU has countered a 4-game losing streak with a 3-game winning streak, including a pair of victories over a highly-ranked Clemson team.
The teams split four games a season ago with Florida State winning the final two, including one in the ACC Tournament, in its last at-bat. The last time that FSU came to Coral Gables for a 3-game series, the opener went 17 innings. As evidenced over the last couple years, games between the Hurricanes and Seminoles tend to be exciting. That should remain the case even without any national hype.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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