Florida State Baseball: College World Series Bound
FSU earned their spot among the eight remaining teams in the nation. The Florida State University baseball team is headed to the College World Series. The team will make an appearance in Omaha, Nebraska for the 21st time in school history, yet the Seminoles have never captured the elusive national championship. FSU has made it to the CWS three times in the last five years. Perhaps this will be the year they bring it home. And what a feat it would be considering many predicted this season would be a rebuilding year.
FSU’s top two starting pitchers are freshmen and were pitching against high school players just last year, yet Brandon Leibrandt and Mike Compton have become some of FSU’s greatest assets. Additionally, Jayce Boyd and James Ramse boast impressive batting averages. They’ve ranked up 116 runs this season combined.
The Seminoles will have to face the Arizona Wildcats in their first game of the Series. The tournament is set up as double elimination bracket play and the finals are a best of three series. Florida State clobbered Stanford last weekend in route to the College World Series, while Arizona rallied against St. John’s in a 10-inning game in order to advance. Both may face their toughest competition yet in the upcoming face-off.
The Arizona Wildcats are seeking their fourth national championship. Florida State head coach Mike Martin has sought the national title for the 33 years he has been coaching Seminole baseball.
For Arizona head coach, Andy Lopez, Martin and the Seminoles are not a new rival. Lopez was previously the head coach at the University of Florida, before leaving Gainesville for Tucson after the Gators dipped in success. However, Lopez has returned the Arizona program to greatness.
It will be interesting to see how the Seminoles fare. The game is scheduled on Friday, June 15th at 9pm. The game will be televised on ESPN 2 and streaming on WatchESPN.com