Florida State head baseball coach Mike Martin is set to go through the NCAA Tournament one last time. Martin and the Seminoles will be the No. 3 seed in Athens for the NCAA Regional, which begins on Friday.
In this week’s The Daily Nole Poll on Twitter, we asked our followers how far FSU would advance in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The results indicate that Athens will be the final destination for the Seminoles in 2019.
There were only 90 responses this week, but about half of those think FSU will fall in the Athens Regional. 49 percent project the season to end this weekend while 23 percent see the Seminoles advancing to the Super Regional round.
21 percent surprisingly — or perhaps in jest — think Martin will finally hoist a national championship trophy. Just 7 percent see FSU falling in the College World Series.
Our Take
As usual, the voters again got it right. The Seminoles will open the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon against Florida Atlantic, which is winnable, but there is a very good chance that FSU will have to beat Georgia twice.
The Bulldogs were 28-3 at home this season and boast a much more complete pitching staff than FSU. If the teams meet on Saturday, there is a very good chance that the Seminoles will see stud Emerson Hancock. The Bulldogs have three proven starters with an ERA below three.
Since the NCAA Tournament went to the current format in 1999, the Seminoles have won just one regional or Super Regional outside of Tallahassee and that came in 2010 in Connecticut. In that case, FSU was still the No. 1 seed in the regional.
Georgia ended Florida State’s 2006 season in Athens — the only other time that Florida State has had to travel for a regional. The current FSU team enters the NCAA Tournament with fewer wins than ever before in Martin’s tenure.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson. Like The Daily Nole on Facebook. To pitch an idea, author a post or to learn more about The Daily Nole, email Mike Ferguson at Mike@TheDailyNole.com.
Jeremy Esbrandt/D'Vel Photography/FSU athletics
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