FSU Baseball: Breaking down Athens Regional in 2019 NCAA Tournament

FSU baseball will head up the road this weekend as they take part in the NCAA Tournament for the 42nd straight season against three teams they know.

After being one of the final four teams selected for this year’s tournament, the FSU baseball team has very little time to count their blessings – and instead, has turned their focus toward what will be a major effort that will need to take place if they want to move on to the Super Regional round next weekend.

For the first time since the 2010 season, the Seminoles will not be hosting the first weekend of action in the annual NCAA tournament but will instead be heading up the road to Athens, Georgia for a weekend of action hosted by the Georgia Bulldogs – playing in the same stadium where they took part in the 2006 regional round before being knocked out.

This season, the Noles and Bulldogs will be joined by two other teams familiar to both programs – a Florida Atlantic Owls team the Seminoles have not played in over three decades and a Mercer Bears team that FSU baseball swept earlier this season when they met.

Florida State Seminoles

So, what do each of the other three teams bring to the table this weekend? Here’s a look at the other three teams in the Athens Regional.

Georgia Bulldogs

Entering the weekend as the No. 4 national seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the Dawgs come into the regional round with a record of 44-15 on the season and went to the semifinal round of last weekend’s SEC Tournament – taking two out of three games after winning nine of their final 11 regular season games that included two series sweeps over UF and Alabama.

Much like FSU baseball, the Bulldogs are stacked at the plate with three of their every game starters batting over .300 on the year and are led by Aaron Schunk and his .336 average on the season. Pitching wise, all three starters have an ERA under 2.70 on the season.

All time, the Seminoles hold a 39-27 advantage in the series but dropped two out of three games when the teams met during the 2015 season in Athens.

Florida Atlantic Owls

FSU baseball will open with an Owls team they have not played since the 1998 season – a team from Boca Raton that comes into the weekend with a 40-19 record on the season that included making it to the C-USA title game as well as winning their final three conference series of the regular season.

All time, the Seminoles hold a 8-1 advantage in the series between the two schools with all the games taking place over a four season stretch (1995 to 1998) and Friday’s showdown being the first game between the programs that has not been played inside Dick Howser Stadium.

Mercer Bears

The team that FSU baseball has seen the most recent, Mercer heads into this weekend’s events with a 35-27 record on the season and is the only automatic qualifier in the group of four teams – an honor that came after defeating Wofford to bring home the Southern Conference title last weekend.

All time, the Seminoles hold a 63-8 edge over their foes from Macon, Georgia and got a three game sweep over the Bears during the first weekend of March this season – outscoring their foes by a combined 26-7 in the process.