FSU Baseball Preview: Noles Open Play in Tallahassee Regional

FSU baseball will be making their 40th consecutive post season appearance this weekend when they host a tough Tallahassee regional.

Thanks to Miami’s absence in the post season, FSU baseball now holds the longest active streak for consecutive NCAA tournament appearances at 40. After a late season surge the Noles won’t be satisfied with simply making the post season. FSU will want to continue their momentum and make some noise in the tournament, starting with a difficult field in the Tallahassee regional.

The regional consists of Ohio Valley conference champions Tennessee Tech (40-19) as the four seed, Auburn (35-24) as the three seed, and Central Florida (40-20) as the two seed. The regional format provides us with a double elimination tournament starting with 2 vs 3 and 1 vs 4. Let’s take a look at FSU’s competition in this strong regional.

Tennessee Tech

The Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech were able to win the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, their reward? The program’s first post season birth since 2009 and a four seed in the Tallahassee regional. Tennessee Tech was 40-19 overall and 23-7 in conference. On the road this season the Golden Eagles were just 15-12.

Tennessee Tech has slugged their way to success this SEASON as they carry a team slash line of .320/.393/.528 with a nationally leading 97 home runs. Tennessee Tech did not face strong competition in the regular season but those numbers are impressive either way. The top hitter for Tennessee Tech is junior infielder Trevor Putzig who has a batting average of .395.

Ryan Flick and Chase Chambers are the biggest power threats on the team. Flick is batting .384 with 18 homers, Chambers bats .306 with 17 homers. Both Flick and Chambers bat from the left side and will look to take advantage of the short porch in right field. FSU is starting freshman lefty Drew Parrish who will look to minimize the damage from the left handed power bats.

Pitching is not one of Tennessee Tech’s strengths. The Golden Eagles will start right hander Michael Wood against FSU. Wood is 8-4 with an ERA of 5.34. The senior, Wood, has allowed 96 hits in 84.1 innings with 78 K’s and 22 walks.

The team fielding percentage for Tennessee Tech will is .975. The Golden Eagles have committed 55 errors in 59 games this season.

Full statistics for Tennessee Tech can be found here.

Central Florida

On day two of the tournament, FSU baseball will face either UCF or Auburn.

FSU faced off with Central Florida in way back in Orlando way back in March. The Noles won both games by scores of 5-0 and 5-2. While it’s encouraging that FSU has already beaten the Knights, these two teams are much different than they were when they met nearly three months ago.

UCF’s 15-9 conference record afforded them a share of the American Athletic Conference regular season championship but they fell short in the semi-finals of the conference tournament. The Knights were 40-20 on the season overall and 10-9 on the road.

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The UCF offense enters the regional with a team slash line of .282/.368/.424 with 49 homers in their 60 games. The top hitter for UCF is Eli Putnam. The senior outfielder carries a slash line of .321/.388/.504. The main source of power for UCF is redshirt freshman infielder, Rylan Thomas. Thomas is batting .305 with 13 homers and 52 RBI.

UCF has an impressive team ERA of 2.91. The Knights’ ace Robby Howell will start game one but UCF has yet to name a game two starter. The Knights have a team fielding percentage of .971 and they have committed 67 errors in their 60 games.

Full stats for UCF can be found here.

Auburn

Auburn enters the regional as a three seed and another potential opponent for FSU on day two. The Tigers have had a solid season and are a strong three seed. The SEC is one of the two best conferences in the country and Auburn managed a 16-14 record in the league, including a three game regular season sweep of Florida. Auburn was able to grab a win over Ole Miss in the SEC tournament but the Tigers dropped games to UF and Arkansas to end their run. The Tigers were 34-25 overall on the season and 10-9 on the road.

Auburn is a fairly average team offensively due to their lack of power numbers. The Tigers carry a team slash line of .275/.369/.360 with just 28 home runs in their 59 games. The leading hitter for Auburn is junior outfielder, Jonah Todd. Todd is Auburn’s only batter with an average over .300, the lefty is slashing .385/.466/.487. The leading power source for Auburn is red shirt junior Dylan Ingram. Ingram is batting .267 with eight home runs and 39 RBI.

Auburn’s strength is their pitching staff; the Tigers have two great starters. Keegan Thompson is set to start game-one vs UCF and Auburn’s game-two opponent will face sophomore right hander Casey Mize. Mize is 7-2 with an elite ERA of 1.93; the sophomore has allowed 59 hits in 74.2 innings and has accumulated 97 strike outs to just eight walks, very impressive.

Assuming FSU baseball wins game one, Nole fans should pull for UCF against Auburn as it means FSU will likely avoid Mize. The Noles feel good about their chances against anyone with Tyler Holton on the mound, but I’m sure they’d like to avoid Mize if possible.

Auburn has a team fielding percentage of .975. The Tigers have committed 56 errors in their 59 games this season.

Full stats for Auburn can be found here.

How to Watch

The schedule for the weekend looks like this:

Friday, June 2

Game 1 – UCF vs. Auburn – 12 p.m.

Game 2 – Florida State vs. Tennessee Tech – 6 p.m.

Saturday, June 3

Game 3 – Game 1 & Game 2 losers – 12 p.m.

Game 4 – Game 1 & Game 2 winners – 7 p.m.

Sunday, June 4

Game 5 – Game 3 winner & Game 4 loser – 1 p.m.

Game 6 – Game 4 winner & Game 5 winner – 7 p.m.

Monday, June 5

Game 7 – If necessary – 7 p.m.

The games will be available to stream via ESPN3. The radio broadcast for FSU baseball games can be found locally on 106.1 FM or nation-wide on the Nole Game Day app.

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