FSU baseball: Why Noles deserve Top 8 seed in Field of 64

FSU baseball (42-15) got demolished 16-4 by Duke in the ACC Championship Finals Sunday afternoon. The Noles defeated Georgia Tech, Virginia, and Wake Forest to make the finals and defeated Duke in two of three games on the road in the regular season. Starting pitcher Carson Dorsey only got three outs, and the much-maligned FSU bullpen didn't receive any help with some head-scratching decisions from Link Jarrett. He chose to use guys in relief who hadn't pitched all week and who had been poor all year in high-leverage situations when the game was still within reach. Jarrett was on record he believed the Noles had done enough to secure a top 8 bid in the Field of 64 after defeating Wake Forest on Saturday. He's not wrong. Did that facto into some of his decision-making? Here's where FSU stood nationally going into the game against Duke on Sunday:

RPI: No. 8

Non-Conference RPI: No. 7

Non-Conference Strength of Schedule: No. 76

8-8 against Q1 teams

8-5 against Q2 teams

The No. 1 team nationally with the No. 1 RPI, Tennessee, has the No. 17 non-conference RPI and the No. 176 non-conference strength of schedule. There are no other teams with a worse RPI than FSU baseball with a better resume. All of the other contenders either have worse RPI, non-conference RPI, non-conference SOS, worse record against Q1 and Q2 teams or lost against FSU head's up. I know some folks will point to the blowout loss against Duke as a reason to keep FSU out of the top eight. However, SEC teams Arkansas, Georgia, and Alabama didn't win a game in their tournament. FSU has a top 8 RPI, top 8 non-conference RPI, and over .500 record against Q1 and Q2 opponents while only losing two games against Q3 and Q4 opponents. FSU will learn if they will be a top 8 seed on Monday in the Field of 64 selection show on ESPN2. If selected, that means FSU will host regionals and Super Regionals if they avoid elimination. FSU was 27-4 at home this season, one of the best home records nationally.

Stats vs. WarrenNolenLive