Seminoles Destroy Stanford

Today is my wife's birthday. She is amazing and another FSU grad. She also runs a zoo blog with me and runs another blog by herself. Today she is doing a huge giveaway on her blog, so I invite you to check it out. Anyways, the Seminoles baseball team gave her an early birthday present last night and I am going to write about it here.

Florida State won last night 17-1. They absolutely crushed the Stanford Cardinal. Not just that, but they did it against Mark Appel. Appel lasted only 4 innings against the Noles. He walked 4(with the Orioles walk problems out of starters, I am glad we passed). The noise at Dick Howser noticeably got to him and he was unable to adjust. Those Seminole bats didn't help out much either. Despite only giving up 5 hits, Appel gave up 7 runs in those 4 innings of work.

Then the bullpen entered for Stanford and got hammered. They gave up 10 runs over 4. Stanford didn't even pitch 9 innings and gave up 17. That is a true testament to the Seminoles ability to hit the baseball.

That offense was paced by Devon Travis. All the Seminoles were mashing, but none better than Travis. He went 3-5, scored 3 times, drove in 6, and hit 2 home runs. The home runs were his 6th and 7th of the season. Even taking out the RBIs, Travis beat the Cardinal by himself with 2 home runs. Absolutely an incredible performance by the 2nd baseman for the Seminoles. Hope he can keep it up.

Brandon Leibrandt was again fantastic for the Noles on the mound picking up the victory. He was also named to the Freshman All-American team earlier in the day. These Noles are not playing around. Now, these Noles are one win away from a trip to Omaha.

-Noland

Seminoles Are Super Regional Bound

#11 has done it again as he helped the Seminoles once again advance to the Super Regionals. The boys did it behind another victory over Samford. During the Tallahassee Regional the Noles didn't even have to play Mississippi State. This is the Noles 5th consecutive Super Regional. Dating back to 1999, the Seminoles are 15-5 in regional play. The MVP of the Super Regional was James Ramsey. In addition to Ramsey, Sherman Johnson, Josh Delph, and Brandon Leibrandt made the All-Tournament Team.

Josh Delph is a freshman right fielder for the Seminoles. I have not talked about him too much to this point, but he was huge in this tournament. Delph had 2 hits, 2 RBIs, a run scored, and a stolen base last night. Which is one of the big reasons for the win and for his inclusion on the Tournament Team.

The biggest reason for the win though was the pitching. Another freshman, Mike Compton, pitched another brilliant game for the Noles. Compton worked 6 innings plus and only gave up 1 earned run. If the Seminoles pitch in the Super Regionals like they did in this regional, then they will be going back to the College World Series.

Since FSU is paired up with the Palo Alto Regional, FSU will be hosting Stanford this weekend. Dates and times will be announced by the NCAA today. There are only 16 teams left and that will be reduced to 8 in a week. Well there is slightly more than 16 left now because some regionals have not been decided. The ACC had a bad weekend as FSU is the only team to advance thus far. NC State is still alive though as the Wolfpack are even with Vanderbilt in their regional. By contrast, the SEC has advanced 4 and could advance as many as 6 by the end of the day, including the Commodores who try to knock off the Wolfpack. The ACC was hurt by poor showings from the Tar Heels, Canes, and Cavs, all #1 seeds. GT and Clemson both gave it a good try, but it was tough to knock off #1 Florida and defending champs SC.

-Noland

Seminoles One Win Away From Hosting Super Regional

The San Antonio Spurs got hosed in OK City last night, but the rest of the sports day went well. We went to a fantastic Orioles game yesterday, and the Seminoles pulled out a victory against Samford. That win puts my beloved Noles only 1 win away from winning this regional.

In order to lose the regional, FSU must lose twice. They will play the winner of Mississippi State and Samford in the regional final. I would prefer Samford again, but that is just me. The first game will take place at 6pm tonight. Hopefully it is the last game of the regional, because if it is, then the Seminoles are advancing.

Florida State won 8-1 behind an absolutely brilliant pitching performance. Freshman Brandon Leibrandt led the Noles with a brilliant pitching performance. He tossed 8 scoreless innings last night for the Noles. If Leibrandt can replicate this performance a couple more times, he might just lead FSU to a national championship. Leibrandt also had 10 strikeouts. He had the first double digit strikeout game since Sean Gilmartin. Gilmartin, who I will post on soon, is in the Atlanta Braves organization.

FSU now has 144 all time victories in regional/superregional play. According to Seminoles.com they are in the process of becoming the winningest school because of that. It doesn't say what the current record is though. Either way, it is a tribute to #11. FSU has a current Regional winning streak of 15 games as well. Let's hope they make it 16 straight and advance to the Super Regional. Mike Martin wants that title.

-Noland