#2 Mississippi State Bulldogs vs #3 Samford Bulldogs

Dick Howser Stadium, Tallahassee, FL - 12:00 PM

#1 Florida State Seminoles vs #4 University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers

Dick Howser Stadium, Tallahassee, FL - 6:00 PM

Inside we have pitching probables and a look at the offenses, feel free to check in and contribute throughout the day as we will be providing updates the best we can.

Continue reading this post »

Tallahassee will host the first round of the Division I Collegiate playoffs for the 29th time in their schools history. Florida State welcomes in three teams that have been playing extremely well as of late each of them winning their own conference tournament. This regional sets up to be one of the most competitive so let's see what some of the nation's top college baseball writers have to say.

Rene (Renny) (Slidell, Louisiana): I see Mississippi State upsetting home team Florida State for the regional- yes? crazy? Been to the Box, Aaron?? Home field at it's best, chances LSU in World Series? Love your chats Rene

Aaron Fitt: Certainly not crazy - Mississippi State could definitely go in there and win that regional, even though I'm picking the Seminoles. (Guess I was lying when I said I wasn't going to give away my picks today!) And yes, LSU has an amazing home-field advantage. I love LSU's chances to get to Omaha.

ONE SEEDS ON WATCH
1. FLORIDA STATE -- The Seminoles actually have a difficult opening-round matchup against UAB, but their biggest competition in the Tallahassee Regional remains Mississippi State. The Bulldogs played terrific baseball in the SEC tournament, particularly defensively and on the mound. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the Bulldogs -- not the Seminoles -- come out of this Regional.
HOTTEST TEAMS
1. MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The Bulldogs played a terrific brand of baseball in the SEC tournament and hope to continue their ways in the Tallahassee Regional. Shortstop Adam Frazier was fantastic defensively, while State churned out premier arm after premier arm. This should be a fun team to follow this weekend.

- Kendall Rodgers

Inside we have a ton of information regarding each team as well as the venue and other important information.

Continue reading this post »

Florida State is coming off a rough ACC Tournament that saw them go 0-3 at the hands of some very good teams. The Noles were competitive in two of the three games but that is not to say there is some cause for concern moving forward. The good news is that the Seminoles had a great regular season where they won a record number of conference games and finished with an overall record of 42-15. That performance was good enough to earn them a national seed which means they will get to play at home all the way through super regionals. The bad news is the teams that Florida State will have to play to advance to the College World Series.

Mississippi State entered the SEC Tournament as a #7 seed and played excellent defeating Vanderbilt in the finals to win the Tournament. The Seminoles will have tough task getting out of this bracket as the Bulldogs are very hot and have one of the best pitching staffs in the country. Samford and UAB finish out the bracket but I don't believer either team poses a serious threat. If the Noles do advance to Supers they will host the winner of the Stanford regional.

Inside we will have a quick look back on how the Seminoles have performed over the last month...

Continue reading this post »

UPDATE: Georgia Tech 10-run ruled Virginia today beating them 17-5 in 7 innings. This eliminated Florida State from the championship game. The ACC looks foolish in my opinion for instituting this type of format, the #1 seed lost the only game it played in by 1 run to one of the best pitchers in the conference and now has 2 meaningless games to play.

For those who are not aware the Noles lost a close game 5-4 at the hands of the Yellow Jackets Wednesday afternoon. Florida State was down early 5-0 in part to a poor outing from Scott Sitz and an inexplicable appearance by Brian Busch who allowed a two-run homer to the only batter he faced. The Seminoles battled back with three runs in the fifth inning off of ace Buck Farmer. They would add another run in the ninth when James Ramsey hit a solo homerun with two outs but the game would end with the next batter as Boyd flew out. I won't defend the decision to pitch Busch because his career at Florida State should be over but fans can't say the Noles would have one if he hadn't pitched, baseball doesn't work that way. Florida State did have chances in this game but the fact that we lost shouldn't have been a surprise. The Yellow Jackets are a better team with Buck Farmer pitching than when the Seminoles start Scott Sitz, plain and simple which is why this game shouldn't have been considered an upset.

If you think the way Florida State lost was bad be glad you're not a Clemson fan, the Tigers wasted an excellent start from Daniel Gosset in a 3-2 loss. Clemson was winning 2-1 going into the bottom of the eighth and easily recorded the first two outs when the wheels came off. A single, hit by pitch and another single loaded the bases for the Cavs and the Tigers gave away the game as they hit the next batter and walked the following allowing two runs. A double played ended in the ninth inning as Clemson joined the Noles in a do or die situation.

If either team is to have any chance of advancing they must win today's game. Florida State has much more on the line than Clemson because their opportunity to be the #1 overall seed is probably dependent on them winning at least two games in this tournament.

Inside we will preview the game and see how the Seminoles matchup...

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Baseball team is coming off an impressive series win against an extremely talented North Carolina State team. With the win on Friday the Noles locked up the #1 seed in the tournament and ensured a National seed. If Florida State can win two games in this tournament I think they have a good chance to be the #1 overall seed in the country and at worst I think they enter as the #4 National seed.

The ACC Tournament starts today and runs through Sunday and for those who are not familiar it is not your typical tournament style of play. The top 8 teams in the conference make the tournament and then are divided into 2 separate pools. Florida State has been paired with Clemson, Virginia and Georgia Tech in Pool A while the team with the best record advances to the finals on Sunday. For a complete bracket you can click here.

Inside we will preview each game and how the Seminoles matchup...

Continue reading this post »

Florida State ends the regular season by hosting one of the hottest teams in the country and probably the best team they have played all year outside of Florida. The North Carolina State Wolfpack are winners of fourteen of their last fifteen games with the only loss coming against Virginia Tech this past Sunday. The Pack are a very balanced team and should provide a real challenge for the Noles who have not been playing great over the past week and a half. To the Seminoles credit their early success in conference has already provided them some breathing room as they have already won the Atlantic Division and with only one win by them or a loss by North Carolina the Noles secure the #1 seed in the conference tournament.

This series starts just three days after the Noles' last one with Clemson ended in which they split a double header. This might actually benefit Florida State because it shuffles the rotation a bit as you will see later this article. Now for some FSU and ACC news:

• For the sixth year in a row, FSU has captured a share of the ACC Atlantic Division title and currently sits needing two more wins to tie the league record for wins in a season.
• ACC student-athletes named to the Capital One Academic All-District Baseball Teams (Clemson's Phil Pohl, Duke's Will Piwnica-Worms, Florida State's Peter Miller and James Ramsey, Georgia Tech's Sam Dove and Brandon Thomas, Maryland's Brett Harman and Kyle Convissar, NC State's Vance Williams and Wake Forest's Evan Stephens)
• Eleven ACC teams have played schedules ranked among the 26 strongest nationally by independent analyst Warren Nolan, led by Miami (third-strongest).
• Nine ACC teams have now won at least 30 games, and Wake Forest needs two more wins to reach that plateau. Top-ranked Florida State has reached the 40-win mark for the 35th straight year.
• Last year, the two schools both won two games as the Seminoles took the regular season series in Raleigh winning the first two games, while NC State won the last two including a 7-0 shutout in the opening round game of the ACC Tournament in Durham.

Inside a look at the offenses and pitching matchups...

Continue reading this post »

In case all your attention was on some beach soiree that was going on just outside of Jacksonville today the top ranked Seminoles baseball team was playing the first game of a double header today against Clemson.

Game one didn't start off well as Mike Compton was all over the place and the defense did him no favors either. By the time he left in the second inning the Noles were down 5-0. Kyle Bird momentarily stopped the bleeding after walking in a run but two innings later the Tigers scored three more runs to go up 9-1. Florida State made a comeback with back to back two running innings in the sixth and seventh but an inability to get a hit with runners on base hampered the Noles. Like they have all season the Seminoles made things interesting when in the ninth inning Travis led of with a double, then a single by Ramsey and a sacrifice fly by Boyd cut the lead to three. Down 9-6, Spralding and Nogowski had back to back singles loading the bases for Seth Miller who singled scoring Ramsey making it a two run game. Josh Delph who was already 3 for 4 on the day came up with only one out and flied out to center field but not deep enough to plate a run. Jose Brizuela had a chance to ties things up but unfortunately struck out swinging and the Noles lost in a 9-7 final. Some good things to take out of this was that the offense showed life in the later innings which will hopefully carry over to tonight and Peter Miller had a strong relief outing allowing no runs and only one hit over 4.1 innings.

Florida State dropped the opener of this series Saturday night when the staff surrendered three homeruns in a 7-2 loss. Freshman Brandon Leibrandt pitched a solid five innings but ran into trouble in the sixth when after retiring the first batter Richie Schaffer hit a solo homerun to tie the game at two. A strikeout, double and walk brought catcher Spencer Keiboom to the plate with two outs and he promptly deposited a ball over the left field fence. Leibrandt's night was done and the Seminole hitting was not able to put anything together against reliever Daniel Gossett. Florida State had no troubles getting runners on base as nineteen men reached, including eight walks but getting hits at key moments just didn't happen.

Inside a brief preview of tonight's matchups...

Continue reading this post »

The consensus number one ranked team in the country is looking to bounce back from losing two of their last three games. After losing the series finale on Monday night they traveled to Stetson for two games. Florida State played the first game extremely close with the Hatters until the 8th inning where they scored seven runs en route to a 9-1 final. Wednesday night's game was ugly to say the least, another poor appearance by Peter Miller and SIX errors by the Noles defense resulted in a 6-5 defeat, the first one run loss of the season. Florida State was due for some losses and the fact that they came so close together and one was on national television probably made the casual fan think less of this team. The Seminoles are still one of the best teams in the country this season and have already locked up a National Seed. Whether or not that is the number one overall depends on the next two series for the Noles.

Inside we will have a preview of the Clemson offense and the pitching probables...

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminoles easily defeated a bad Maryland team the past two days 10-3 and 9-2. The Noles now move to a remarkable 21-2 in conference while the Terps are now a meager 8-18.

Continue reading this post »

GAME 3 FINAL (10 INNINGS): Noles Sweep the Dirty Canes 8-7

The Seminoles survived a 7 running inning and stalling attempts by Jim Morris to sweep Miami for the first time since 2002. Sherman Johnson hit a walk off single off of stud reliever EJ Enincosa. Lots of strong relief appearances but FSU will see be searching for a Sunday starter. Florida State moved to a remarkable 10-0 in one run games and continue to play strong.

GAME 2 FINAL: Noles Shutdown Canes...Again 6-1

Another great team pitching performance from freshman today and some awful defense by Miami made this game seem easy. The Canes made 4 more errors today and the Noles took full advantage of it. Nice to see Mike Compton bounce back after some poor starts and another excellent outing from Luke Weaver

GAME 1 FINAL: Noles Demolish Canes 11-2

Justin Gonzalez had 2 homeruns, one was an absolute bomb. Sherman Johnson increased his extra base hits on the year by 42% with three doubles. Sacrifice bunter extraordinaire, James Ramsey was on base four times. Brandon Leibrandt had a laborious first few innings but made it through five solid. Relief appearances by Scantling and Holtman shut down Miami. Great win by the Noles.

The Florida State Seminoles enter the final leg of the season the number one ranked team in the nation according to Baseball America, the most respected of all polls in my opinion. They are 30-7 overall and a phenomenal 16-2 in the ACC with a five game lead in the Atlantic Division over NC State. The Seminoles have not dropped a weekend series all year and three of the seven losses have come at the hands of one of the most talented teams in the history of college baseball. Given the change in coaching, poor recruiting and graduation from last year it's fair to say this team has far exceeded anyone's expectations. How the Noles have achieved success and whether it can be duplicated for the rest of the season is what will be discussed throughout the article but first a recap of last week.

The Noles traveled north to face the worst team in the conference and came home with a series win losing only the Sunday game. Friday afternoon saw freshman Brandon Leibrandt have another solid start, his third in a row and it appears that he has become a pretty reliable Friday guy considering he has tremendous shoes to fill in departed first rounder Sean Gilmartin. The Seminoles' bullpen surrendered a lead in the eighth inning but the offense picked them up scoring two runs in the top of the ninth to secure the 6-5 win. Saturday saw another early departure for Mike Compton, he lasted only two plus innings throwing 42 pitches to eleven batters. This should be a concern for the Noles as he has not made it through the third in his last two starts. Compton was relieved by Hunter Scantling who went four plus innings and kept the Eagles bats contained. Doubles by Boyd, Brizuela and two by Johnson was more than enough as the Noles won 6-3.

The Sunday game was not a pretty sight as Florida State lost 17-6 but in no way should the game have gotten this out of hand. Peter Miller had another poor outing by a FSU starter as he lasted only two-thirds of an inning. Mack Waugh came on in relief and was not much better allowing seven hits in 2.2 innings and the Noles trailed 6-4 at the end of the fourth. Down 9-5 entering the 8^th innings Mike Martin went with Brian Busch who has been pretty bad all year and surprisingly to no one he pitched poorly again allowing three hits and a walk to the six batters he faced. Now with a six run deficit Martin turned to Gage Smith who had pitched the previous two days and let him get pounded for six straight hits before getting pulled. I have yet to find a fan, writer or analyst come up with an explanation as to what the line of reasoning was here. Martin who notoriously has a quick hook lets a certain player get hammered when he probably shouldn't have been pitching in the first place. Martin has been criticized plenty on this site but so far this year has not given us much to complain about but when he does something like this it leaves us all scratching our heads. All we can do is pray this type of decision doesn't happen in a game of critical importance.

All in all though it has been an amazing season and the Noles have performed better than anyone in their right mind thought they would. The way things have played out though the Seminoles have the toughest stretch of games in four of the next five weeks as they hope to maintain their success, win a regular season conference title and a secure a national seed.

After the jump we will look at what the Seminoles have done this season offensively and on the mound, what to expect the rest of the season and how they matchup against the Miami Hurricanes...

Continue reading this post »

The top ranked Florida State Seminoles look to continue their ACC dominance this season as they travel north to take on the worst team in the conference. Despite a midweek setback against the best team in the country the Noles are playing great baseball and should have little trouble with the Eagles this weekend. Currently at 14-1 in conference they Noles are far exceeding any reasonable expectations going into the season and a five game lead in the division that they were expected to finish second in is an added bonus. After this weekend though the home stretch of conference play becomes more difficult as three of the remaining four teams on the schedule have an RPI of 25 or better with Clemson coming in at 36.

Inside a preview of the offenses and the pitching matchups.

Continue reading this post »

The top ranked Florida State Seminoles host the Florida Gators tonight in Tallahassee trying to avoid a season sweep. The Noles are coming off an excellent weekend where they swept a good Georgia Tech team on the road, moving to 14-1 in conference play and a 5 game lead in the division. Head Coach Mike Martin also earned his 1700^th victory becoming only the fourth coach in collegiate history to accomplish this. The Florida Gators are currently slumping having lost their last two weekend series and a weekday game to North Florida. There really is no shame in going 2-4 against Ole Miss and LSU but the way they lost is what Florida fans should be upset with. Mental mistakes and lack of simple execution has costs the Gators recently and the Seminoles look to capitalize on that tonight.

Inside a preview of both teams and how they matchup...

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminoles are about to enter what might be the turning point in the season. So far they have been very successful with a 24-5 record and a #2 ranking in four of the five major polls. Despite a midweek loss against Florida Gulf Coast the Noles are 11-1 in conference and have a three game lead in the division. While record is not the end all be all with regards to talent the combined record of teams FSU has played in conference so far is 18-30 while the record of teams yet to play is 34-38. This weekend the Seminoles travel to Atlanta to face a Georgia Tech team that has been less than stellar in ACC play but still poses a threat as they are consistently one of the best teams in the conference.

Inside a brief preview of the offenses and pitching...

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminoles (21-4) are coming off a tough loss against the top ranked Florida Gators (23-2) in Jacksonville this past Tuesday. Florida State played well and if not for a killer error by Ramsey in the centerfield and an inning ending double play my McGee with the bases loaded the Noles played well enough to win the game. But for the first time in a long time the Gators won the season series and remain the top team in baseball while the Seminoles (8-1) prepare for an ACC home series against the Virginia Tech Hokies (2-7).

Prior to losing this week the Seminoles won a solid road series against a good Wake Forest team while the Hokies were embarrassed at home by Duke who outscored them 23-6 in a series sweep. Inside a quick preview of the offenses and how the pitching matches up...

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminoles are coming off an impressive series victory on the road in conference. As mentioned in the preview Wake Forest is not a bad team, they have two great starting pitchers and an offense that has hit well this year. Seminole pitchers limited the Deacons to just six runs combined on Friday and Saturday but the absence of a legitimate third starter was evident on Sunday. Peter Miller lasted less than three innings for the third straight time and the Noles were down 7-1 by the end of the sixth.

Also discouraging was the lack of innings produced by the young starters, going into the weekend they were averaging less than five innings per start. This weekend they lasted 4.2, 5.0 and 2.2 innings, this might not hurt you against the likes of Wake Forest and Duke but as the competition gets tougher and the season wears on you need your starters to take you longer into the game and preserve your bullpen. Don't let anybody tell you different, how you get nine quality innings absolutely matters. This does not all fall completely on the shoulders of the pitchers, Friday starter Brandon Liebrandt was pulled in the fifth inning after only 68 pitches. I was unable to watch the game but from everything I've heard and read he wasn't pitching that bad or laboring. Only time will tell how much coddling of these pitchers is either helping or hurting them and the team but at this point I don't think it's beneficial to pull them at the first sign of trouble.

While not scoring many run the offense was still very productive walking 26 times and striking out 27. When you are getting that many runners on base you will eventually score runs and at a good clip. Stephen McGee has been a bright spot this season as he continues to play well and now leads the ACC in OBP during conference play. Senior CF James Ramsey continues to impress and in my opinion is single handedly saving the Noles season as he homered in every game this weekend. This question was recent asked in a chat with Baseball America's Aaron Fitt...

wayne (camarillo ca): who's the best college hitter?

He responded with...

Aaron Fitt: Right now, I think I have to say James Ramsey of Florida State. Tyler Naquin of Texas A&M is, I think, a better pure hitter, but Ramsey also can really hit and has considerably more power than Naquin, making him more dangerous overall. I wouldn't argue if you wanted to take Florida's Mike Zunino here, either (and as a catcher, Zunino is the best prospect of the lot).

Very high remarks from one of the best writers in college baseball and lucky for us both Ramsey and Zunino will be on display tonight as the Seminoles take on the Gators in Jacksonville. Inside a quick preview of both teams.

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminole baseball team is off to a fantastic 2012 season having posted a 19-2 record with a perfect 6-0 in conference. They are coming off a home stand where they played 5 days in a row going 5-0 beating and Virginia team who lost a lot this year but is still a good team and strong program. They followed that up by dismantling an average Stetson team by a combined score of 26-9. The Noles have been so successful thus far primarily due to an offense that is still one of the best in the country. Their great plate discipline currently has them 7th in the country in OBP and 3rd in walks resulting in them being one of the highest running scoring teams (9th) in the nation.

The pitching staff has also made improvements this season under new pitching coach and former Seminole Mike Bell. Kendall Rodgers of Perfect Game has a free article about the progress that has been made.

The first-year pitching coach did nothing of the sort. He didn't want to have opinions on pitchers before seeing them perform in the fall. That attitude displayed by Bell created a culture of confidence amongst the pitchers in the fall; all feeling like it was a fresh start.

"Basically, we pretty much went back to square one during the fall," Bell said. "I told the older guys, whether you've had a good or bad career to-date, that doesn't matter anymore. You were getting to start everything from scratch. I didn't have good or bad memories of those guys. I wanted to build and grow with each one of them with a clean slate."

This was a great approach taken my Bell given the fact that everyone who pitched prior to his arrival had been done a disservice by the former pitching coach. Rodgers goes on to write...

Moving forward, the Seminoles don't expect to be flawless every time out from a pitching standpoint. Bell knows better than anyone this unit is work in progress.

But just a month into Bell's first season with the Seminoles, the improvements with many of FSU's arms are quite evident.

Hearing about the changes in the program has me excited about the direction the pitching staff is going. While I don't think the 2012 staff has really outpitched 2011 staff of any great significance so far they are doing better than I thought they would for being such a young group.

Florida State travels to Wake Forest (16-7) this weekend for a match up against two very good pitchers and an offense that has been able to hold their own this season. The Seminoles are currently ranked 6^th in Baseball America poll and have a RPI of 5^th according to Warren Nolan going 5-1 vs Top 50 RPI teams this season. The Demon Deacons are not currently ranked but boast a very respectable RPI of 30 having gone 4-7 against Top 50 RPI teams. They opened up conference play by sweeping a terrible Maryland team only to be swept themselves by a pretty good NC State team. The Noles are currently the only team in the ACC with a perfect conference record sweeping Duke and Virginia.

Inside a preview of the offenses and the pitching probable's.

Continue reading this post »

The Seminoles are coming off an impressive weekend where they swept a less than average Duke team on the road to begin ACC play. All in all it was a successful weekend for the Noles as the pitching staff really shined as a unit. In the preview I stated that for this team to have long term success the three young starters would have to improve their K:BB ratio which was a pathetic 1.29. They did just that albeit against a meager hitting Duke team as they combined for 16 strikeouts and only 6 walks. As a whole Noles' pitcher allowed five earned runs on only three extra base hits, striking out 26 and walking 6. This is the kind of control that is needed moving forward as the competition becomes much better. The Noles' offense also had a solid week averaging just under 7 runs a game and beating an excellent Friday pitcher. Currently the Seminoles sit at a record of 14-1 but their schedule is about to pick up as they face the Gators tonight and the Virginia Cavaliers this weekend. Inside we will have a quick preview of tonight's game.

Continue reading this post »

The 2011 season will mark the beginning of a new era in collegiate baseball. As cliché as that sounds it is absolutely true, with the implementation of the safer bats offense is expected to take a big downturn. While everyone has their theories it really is difficult to gauge just how big of an impact it will have.

This was my opening to the 2011 Season Preview and the same holds true for this 2012 squad as Florida State has a new pitching coach for the first time in 20 years marking the beginning of a new era in Seminole baseball. After an embarrassing loss to end 2011, former Pitching Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Jamie Shouppe resigned from his position and immediately recruiting took a turn for the better. Pitching recruits who laughed at the thought of attending FSU now considered the Noles a legitimate choice and once former Seminole pitcher Mike Bell was hired interest in becoming a pitcher for Florida State gained momentum. Bell and Martin, Jr. feverishly hit the recruiting trail and salvaged a pretty good recruiting class for the Noles. In the meantime Mike Bell has repaired damaged relationships with high schools as well as developing new pipelines with training camps and travel ball teams. On the field Bell has totally revamped the pitching program as each pitcher now has a strict regimen of workouts that they are to follow and accountability has been instilled. It seems that he has the blessings from Head Coach Mike Martin as this staff will look drastically different as it has in years past.

Inside we preview the makeup if the 2012 Seminole baseball team…

Continue reading this post »

The long time Pitching Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Jamey Shouppe made the announcement this afternoon that he will not be returning to Florida State next year.  Florida State did the classy thing and allowed Shouppe to make it look like it was his decision.

This decision is not a knee jerk reaction to an embarrassing loss in the Super Regionals but a result of a Seminole pitching staff that has declined in recent years.

It has been well documented that Shouppe has turned a once solid pitching staff into nothing more than league average which is a major reason why the Noles keep falling short.  The result of the pitching decline is two fold, poor development and poor recruiting.  Florida State finished 2011 and 2010 with recruiting classes not ranked in the top 25, they were last ranked in 2009 where they came in at 24th overall, sandwiched in between NCST and Duke.  Currently the Seminoles have zero players in the Top 100 that are expected to make it on campus next year.

More on the pitching change and what the Seminoles can expect moving forward...

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminoles took care of business last night in a 23-9 rout of Texas A&M.  The Noles had 7 starters with a hit, 16 in all and 8 extra base hits including a season high 4 homeruns.  Florida State had multi-run innings in all but 3 and scored in 7 of 9.  They took advantage of Aggie pitcher's inability to throw strikes as they walked 12 times and were hit by a pitch 4 times, all in all it was a fun game to watch from an offensive prospective.  Once again the pitching was painful to watch, Mike McGee was given an 8 run lead and promptly squandered it throwing 2+ innings where only 23 of his 50 pitches thrown were for strikes.  Scott Sitz came in and while he looked good at times he struggled with his command and allowed 10 of the 22 batters he faced to reach base.  Mack Waugh was the most impressive last night and with a commanding lead he did what you need to do, throw strikes, pitch to contact and let your defense make plays.

The Aggies refused to throw their best pitchers last night in preparation for tonight's game and luckily enough for the Noles they were able to save their best relievers as well.  Inside we will preview the game and look at the pitching probables.

Continue reading this post »

FINAL UPDATE:  The Seminoles destroyed the Texas A&M 23-9 on Sunday afternoon.  The Aggies used 5 pitchers, none who are very good while the Noles used 3 pitchers to hold things together setting up a winner take all game for tomorrow night at 7PM.  Congrats to the Noles for taking care of business, a full preview will be up tomorrow.

Sunday, June 12, 4:00 PM

Radio -  Seminoles All-Access
TV - ESPN
Web Stream - ESPN3 
Live Stats -  GameTracker

Please remember

Overflow Thread #1

The Florida State Seminoles lost yesterday at the hands of the Texas A&M Aggies.  Starters Sean Gilmartin and Ross Stripling were on cruise control through the first six innings of the game as the Noles had a 2-1 lead going into the top of the seventh.  That's when things went wrong for Gilmartin and the Noles.  Starting with no outs and an 0-2 count 1B Jacob House pulled an outside changeup for a base hit ending Gilmartin's streak of retiring 13 straight batters.  The next batter walked as it appeared the umpire's strike zone tightened up and with a sacrifice bunt A&M had runners at 2^nd and 3^rd with one out.  Another good piece of hitting by LF Brandon Wood as he singled through the left side plating 2 runners and giving Texas A&M their first lead of the day 3-2.  The Aggies added 2 more hits and ended the inning with a 5-2 lead and all the momentum. 

Ross Stripling made the Seminoles offense work for everything, although he allowed 7 hits he only walked one.  The Noles had base runners on in every inning but 2 but struck out 8 times and could not string together timely hits.  It was said in yesterday's preview that the Seminoles would need the bottom of the lineup to produce and unfortunately hitters 6-9 went a pitiful 0-15 with 4 strikeouts and 0 walks.  The only offense was again from hitters 1-5 who were 9-20 including a solo homerun by 1B Jayce Boyd.  The game ended with Mike Martin using a carousel of pitchers in the last 2 innings while the Aggies used 2 relievers en route to a 6-2 final score.

The Seminoles are in a situation they haven't really had to face all season as they have only lost twice when Gilmartin has pitched.  Inside we will look at the pitching probables.

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminoles look to get back to the College World Series for the 3rd time in 4 years this weekend as they host the Texas A&M Aggies.  The Seminoles swept through their regional series beating a good Alabama Crimson Tide team where the bats held strong and the pitching was good.  The Aggies had a tougher time getting through regionals as they had to defeat a tough Arizona Wildcats team in a winner go home game in order to advance. 

Inside we will preview the ACC versus the Big 12 as well as pitching and offensive matchups.

Continue reading this post »

The Florida State Seminoles swept through regionals earning the right to host the winner of Texas A&M and Arizona who played Tuesday afternoon because of a weather delay.  It was a scoreless battle into the 8th inning but the Aggies were victorious winning 3-0.  Texas A&M is an excellent team who was an injury away from being a national seed and will bring a staff full of stud pitching to Tallahassee in an effort to win a trip to the College World Series.  Due to the delay of both regionals the Super Regional series will be played starting on Saturday, below is a full schedule.

Each team has very different strengths much like last year when Florida State played a tough Vanderbilt team.  A full series preview will come later in the week.  

Inside we will have a brief look at the Aggies and highlight how current and future Seminoles fared halfway through the 2011 MLB Draft.

Continue reading this post »