It’s NCAA Tournament time and Tallahassee will be uncharacteristically quiet.
The good news for Florida State fans is that the Seminoles are a part of the tournament for a 42nd straight year. The bad news is that FSU will be forced to win a regional where the host is 28-3.
FSU will be the No. 3 seed in the Athens and take on Florida Atlantic on Friday afternoon. The region’s top seed, Georgia, is the No. 4 national seed. The Bulldogs will open with the regional’s No. 4 seed in Southern Conference champion Mercer.
Since the NCAA Baseball Tournament went to its current format in 1999, the Seminoles have failed to get a No. 1 seed in a regional just twice — 2006 and this season. In both cases, FSU was sent to Athens.
The only previous occasion was 2006. FSU actually topped the Bulldogs, 6-4, after both teams advanced to the winner’s bracket following Friday victories. Georgia rallied to take the regional by taking a pair of elimination games over the Seminoles by 7-1 and 3-2 scores.
Athens is the only regional location where FSU has played where it was not a No. 1 seed, but it isn’t the only place where the Seminoles have traveled for regional play. In 2010, Florida State was sent to Norwich, Connecticut as the regional’s top seed. There, FSU went 3-0 with a victory over Central Connecticut before notching a pair of wins over Oregon en route to a College World Series appearance.
If one is looking for historically good news, it’s that FSU is 39-27 all-time against the Bulldogs. Georgia took two of three when the teams met in Athens during the 2015 regular season. The last NCAA Tournament meeting was an 8-2 victory for the Seminoles in the 2009 Tallahassee Regional.
FSU is 8-1 all-time against Florida Atlantic and 63-8 all-time against Mercer. The Seminoles swept the Bears in a 3-game series to open March this season. FSU also prevailed 5-4 in 10 innings when the teams met to kick off the 2015 Tallahassee Regional.
Other Fun Facts
At No. 3, FSU women’s outdoor track and field has its highest national ranking since the USTFCCCA Rating Index was put into place in 2008.
FSU baseball has had at least one player taken in the Major League Baseball Draft in each season since 1967.
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.
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