FSU Baseball 2019 NCAA Tournament Preview: Regional Final

Here’s a preview of FSU baseball and their next set of games during the 2019 season.

For the first two and a half innings of action on Saturday, it looked like the FSU baseball team was going to have plenty of work cut out for them if they wanted to survive the first round of the NCAA Tournament – but, a funny thing happened for the Noles as three innings saved the day for head coach Mike Martin’s final postseason run.

It first started with just tying the game…then it went to having a couple run lead…and by the time it was all said and done, the Seminoles didn’t just have a dominating win but also now have plenty of momentum heading into a situation where all it takes Sunday night is one win to send the Noles to the next round.

Now, the men in garnet and gold wait to see which one of the teams they have already beaten so far this weekend they will play again as they go for that chance to send Martin out with one final, magical postseason ride and just maybe send the FSU baseball team back to Omaha.

Florida State Seminoles

Here’s our preview of this week’s game between the Seminoles and their foe during this week of action.

The Last Time The ‘Noles Took The Field

In front of a packed house inside Foley Field, the FSU baseball team took on the host Georgia Bulldogs – the No. 4 seed in the country who looked just like it as they built a 2-0 lead after a solo homer by the first batter of the game and had the fans of the Noles in attendance starting to wonder.

But, that worry wouldn’t last long as the Seminoles tied it up in the bottom of the third – leading things off with a solo homer by Mr. Regional, Tim Becker – that was aided by three runs the following inning, including a two RBI single by Becker, and five runs in the fifth inning that included a three run homer by Caleb Smith.

A two run homer in the seventh inning by Mike Salvatore was the final straw to complement a solid pitching effort from starter C.J. Van Eyk, who struck out nine in eight innings on the mount as the Noles clicked on all cylinders to get the 12-3 victory over the Dawgs.

Opponent Preview

The Seminoles now sit just one win away from the Super Regional round and await the winner of an elimination game taking place Sunday afternoon inside of Foley Field between the teams they have beat so far – the host Georgia Bulldogs and the squad they beat in the opener, the Florida Atlantic Owls.

After FSU baseball beat up on the Owls to start the regional on Friday, FAU came back with a vengeance in their first elimination round game on Saturday, when they put 10 runs on the board to stay alive while eliminating Mercer.

Interesting Fact

For the Seminoles, getting a win on Sunday over whoever they play would be a huge deal since they would be able to do something that hasn’t been done since the 2016 season – win three straight games in the regional without having dropped a game during the weekend.

The Seminoles did just that in both 2015 and 2016 at regional weekends held in Tallahassee before dropping their opener in the 2017 tournament – before winning six straight games that included a Super Regional sweep – and being swept out of last year’s tournament inside Dick Howser Stadium.