The Florida State Seminoles beat the North Carolina State Wolfpack 8-3 on Sunday afternoon for their first ACC title crown since 2004. For the third game in a row the Noles pitching staff was able to shut down opposing offenses and FSU hitters continued to score runs despite all of Mike Martin's attempts to limit them.
Going into the tournament there was very little reason to believe this team could win other then blind faith and after the first game against Miami those predictions looked even more concrete. Then the pitching staff somehow got really good at getting opposing batters out.
As you can see Florida State pitchers were much better over the past 4 games then they were throughout the course of the entire season. The 'Noles had a worse FIP but I think we can attribute that to the little league like dimensions of the ballpark where a tournament record of homeruns were hit.
Florida State is playing the best ball they have all season which is exactly what you would like to see moving into the postseason and for the first time since 2006 they are going to have to continue their good play on the road. Despite playing their way into the title game Florida State did not earn a spot as a regional host. The more I think about this the less problems I have with it, to reward a team for getting hot over 3 games when there are more deserving teams who have a more impressive overall body of work is the right thing to do.
The predictions I have seen have Florida State as a #2 seed at Auburn or possibly a #1 seed at UCONN. Coming out of that Auburn regional would me a monumental task for the Noles as that team has one of the best offenses in the country and although FSU pitching has been throwing well we really don't know if that is sustainable for the rest of the season.
The Regionals will be set later this afternoon and you can expect a full breakdown later this week as games start this Friday.
Congrats to Tyler Holt and Stephen Cardullo for making the All ACC Tourney Team.