A glance at the teams in FSU baseball’s regional

It was 2006 the last time the Seminoles had to travel to a regional site where they were not the no. 1 seed. Fourteen years later they will play at the same site as 2006, Foley Field on the University of Georgia’s campus. The Bulldogs will host no. 2 seed Florida Atlantic, no. 3 seed Florida State, and no. 4 seed Mercer.

In addition to hosting the Georgia Bulldogs earned the no. 4 overall national seed. They have the third best RPI in the country and have been ranked in or near the top ten all ‘season. The ’Dawgs finished the regular season 44-15 with an impressive 21-9 record in SEC play. Georgia has an average offense but one of the best pitching staffs in the conference and the country.

Florida Atlantic enters the tournament with a 40-15 record and won the regular season Conference USA title by going 22-8. The Owls RPI is at 37 and made it to their conference title game before losing to Southern Miss. FAU posses a very potent offense but no starting pitchers that would be considered a shut down ace. Depending on which starting pitcher the Seminoles start on Friday this could be a very winnable game for the ‘Noles.

Like he was ahead of the conference tournament, McCormack was not shy about revealing on Monday how he’ll utilize his rotation for regionals, saying he would keep things the same. Blake Sanderson (8-2, 3.93 ERA) will start against FSU on Friday. If kept the same, Mike Ruff (6-4, 5.49) would start the Owls’ second game, but McCormack indicated the result of the first game could call for an adjustment. — Sun Sentinel

The Seminoles were one of the last four teams to make the field of 64 teams and it all came down to a win against NCST last Friday in the ACC Tournament. The 36-21 overall record didn’t impress the committee but their 17-13 conference record did. Florida State has been up and down all season and once again rely on a patient offense and can score runs in bunches. The ‘Noles will have to rely on that offense because their starting pitching, bullpen and defense have been poor most of the season outside of a few players.

Mercer made the tournament via automatic bid earned by winning their conference tournament. The Bears went 14-10 in the Southern Conference and 35-27 overall finishing with a RPI of 107 which was bolstered by their tournament championship. Like most years Mercer has a powerful lineup who can really slug it but just a marginal pitching staff.

Stay tuned to Tomahawk Nation all this week for updates on Florida State in the Athens regional.