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FSU Baseball 2018 Weekday Preview: ACC Tournament Pool Play

By Jason Parker

Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of a bag of baseballs before the start of the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Vanderbilt Commodores during game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of the away jersey of the Vanderbilt Commodores and the home jersey of the Virginia Cavaliers before the start of game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of a bag of baseballs before the start of the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Vanderbilt Commodores during game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of the away jersey of the Vanderbilt Commodores and the home jersey of the Virginia Cavaliers before the start of game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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Here’s a preview of FSU baseball and their next set of games during the 2018 baseball season.

Entering the final weekend of games in the regular season, the FSU baseball team knew they needed to get a series win if they wanted any hope of a solid seed in the conference tournament and any shot of being in the conversation for a national seed in the NCAA tournament starting the first weekend of June.

After doing just that, the Seminoles now get ready for what the hope is an extended stay in Durham starting Tuesday afternoon – against one team they have played just twice in the last four seasons and another team they literally just got finished playing about 72 hours ago inside Dick Howser Stadium.

Here’s our preview of this week’s game between the Seminoles and their pool play opponents in the ACC tournament.

The Last Time The ‘Noles Took The Field

FSU baseball welcomed the N.C. State Wolfpack – a team ranked in the top five of several polls entering the series – for the final three game series of the regular season. The action started on Thursday and ended with some free baseball for the fans, with Steven Wells hitting a game winning solo homer in the 11th inning to give the Seminoles a 4-3 victory.

On Friday, it was almost the same exact story as the men from Raleigh tied the game up in the ninth inning – and there would be more free baseball as the Noles got another heroic hit when Reese Albert knocked a three run homer out of the park and the Seminoles won the series with a 6-3 decision.

Going for the sweep on Saturday, the Noles found themselves down a run with two runners on base in the eighth inning, but couldn’t get the job done as the Wolfpack added another run in the ninth inning to get out of Tallahassee with a 5-3 victory.

Opponent Preview

The action will start on Tuesday afternoon for the Seminoles when they open up pool play against the Virginia Cavaliers – a team they didn’t play this season, but dropped two out of three against in 2017 when they played in Tallahassee.

The Wahoos finished the regular season with a record of 28-24, but dropped four of their final six games including the final series of the season at Wake Forest. The 2015 national champs are batting .272 as a team while the pitching staff has a combined ERA of 4.22 as opponents are batting .246 against them this year.

On Friday, FSU baseball will take the field against the same Wolfpack team they just played this weekend. N.C. State finished the regular season with a 40-14 record and eight wins in their final 10 games, with both losses coming against the Noles. As a team, N.C. State is batting .292 on the year with a combined staff ERA of 3.60.

Interesting Fact

The Seminoles do have a history playing both teams in the ACC tournament, having met the Cavaliers a total of 16 times with a record of 8-8 that includes three losses in the tournament title game and no wins. Against the Wolfpack, the Noles are 12-5 including an undefeated 2-0 record in the tournament title game.

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If FSU baseball can win their pool in this year’s tournament, they would advance to Saturday’s semifinal game at 5 p.m. against the winner of Pool B – consisting of the Clemson Tigers, Miami Hurricanes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Seminoles have combined 5-4 record against those foes this season, taking two games each from Notre Dame and Miami.

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