Field of 64: FSU baseball projected to host regional as No. 16 seed

FSU baseball (25-17, 17-13 ACC) picked the right time to play some of their best baseball the past few days. The Noles became the first team to win a series against Notre Dame over the weekend.

I wrote about how critical it was for the FSU to play well in the series preview. It looks like that performance paid off as FSU baseball projects to host a regional as the No. 16 seed according to D1baseball.com.

The Notre Dame series win boosted the Noles to No. 31 in the latest RPI rankings. It also gave them four series wins on the road against ranked teams.

FSU was back in action Tuesday evening against Florida Gulf Coast and hold a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning. The game will resume Wednesday at noon, with the second game taking place 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.

D1baseball projects the Noles to be in the same region as South Alabama, Charlotte, and Georgia. Charlotte has an RPI ranking of 16, Georgia checks in at 38, and South Alabama checks in at 58.

These projections would have the Noles facing South Alabama first, and if victorious, the winner of the Charlotte and Georgia series.

This scenario is a better matchup for the Noles, who would have had to play in the Gainesville regional in the last projections.

FSU baseball has the starting pitching and good enough defense to play with anyone in the country. This team’s success will depend on the offense. They still leave way too many runners on base, and it’s mostly due to the lack of production from the bottom of the lineup.

If they can find some production from the bottom of the lineup, they would be a tough out for any pitching staff. The strikeouts I lamented about earlier in the year have decreased a tad, and the defense has shown some improvement.

They need to take care of business against Florida Gulf Coast in these two games and finish the regular season strong to make this projection come true.