Seminoles Eliminate #2 UCLA

The Florida State Seminoles are one step closer to that elusive title in the College World Series. They just took out the UCLA Bruins. UCLA was #2 and the highest ranked team left after the Gators were eliminated a night earlier. With UCLA and Florida knocked out, the highest ranked team is....The Florida State Seminoles. Don't get too excited though.

The Seminoles may now be the favorite on paper, but if you go by where they are at in the bracket they can't be the favorite. FSU will now take on the Arizona Wildcats again. Arizona beat FSU in 12 innings on the 1st day of this tournament. Arizona also has not lost in the CWS yet. In this double elimination tournament, that means that FSU has to beat Arizona twice. Not impossible, but a tall order. I will get to the other side of the bracket after I tell you about last night.

Scott Sitz was the hero for the Seminoles who have had surprisingly strong pitching through this CWS. He went 6 2/3 innings and had 8 huge strikeouts. UCLA had one threat, and Sitz struck out the side to end that threat as soon as possible. Sitz stranded the bases loaded in that instance and helped the Noles secure the victory. He shut down a very good UCLA lineup and only gave up 1 run in the 4-1 Noles victory. Robert Benincasa, the future Nationals closer, earned his 16th save of the season.

The top of the order again was what delivered for the Noles. Sherman Johnson was 2-3 with 2 runs scored. Including scoring on a bunt by Jayce Boyd. Boyd's bunt was so perfect, that Devon Travis also scored on the play after the 3rd baseman didn't field it cleanly. Travis was also 2-3 in the game. The captain, James Ramsey, was also 2-3 with a run scored. Great night from the three at the top, again.

No word yet on Thursday night's starter.

Anyways, back to the bracket. On the other side of the bracket, Arkansas has yet to lose a game, and of course Florida is eliminated. Defending back to back champ South Carolina's winning streak was snapped by Arkansas and they will play Kent State in an elimination game tonight. The winner will meet Arkansas on Thursday and then play again on Friday if they win Thursday night. Hopefully Kent State wins out on their side and plays us for the title. We will see though.

Go Noles!

-Noland

Who Will the Noles Play in the CWS?

So we know the Noles are in and we are all excited. There are 8 teams that play in the College World Series though. Who are the other 7? Well only a few have been announced yet, but I thought I'd post some pics from the victory first. If you want one of the shirts posted, head to Seminoles.com and click on the shop. You will find them easily.

You can tell by the shirts that there are 5 teams who advanced and that there are three to still be decided. Unfortunately, our rivals and the current #1 overall seed, the Florida Gators advanced. The #2 team was UCLA and they also advanced. We were the #3 overall seed. Any time the top 3 teams advance it looks like chalk city, but as Lee Corso says "not so fast my friends."

Cinderella has also joined the dance. Stony Brook who was a 4th seed in a regional which is basically a 16th seed has advanced to the College World Series. Not just that, but they look hungry. They knocked Miami out and won the Coral Gables Regional. From there they went to the Baton Rouge Super Regional and knocked out the #7 overall LSU Tigers. What a huge win for the Stony Brook team. Just a few years ago Stony Brook was Division 3. Now they are 1 of 8 teams left. In case you were wondering, Gausman (the Orioles 1st rounder) won game 1 for the Tigers in relief and then lost game 2 as a starter.

The other team to advance already was the Arizona Wildcats. Arizona was a #1 seed, but not in the top 8 national seeds. So they are somewhere between 9-16. If you do the math, Arizona would have been matched up with UNC who was #7 so that would put Arizona @ #10 in this tournament. Therefore, 4 top 10 teams have advanced so far and we can get 3 more.

#5 Oregon is currently tied with the Cinderella Kent State @ 1 game a piece. Will another top 10 get in or will we have two Cinderellas.

Two time defending champion and #8 South Carolina is up one game on Oklahoma. Oklahoma would love to knock out the reigning champs. Meanwhile, SC would love the three-peat.

Finally, #3 Baylor is taking on SEC powerhouse Arkansas. While Arkansas is a 2 seed, they are more than capable of taking down Baylor. That series is tied at a game a piece. This could be the positive news that Arkansas is desperately looking for following the Petrino scandal.

-Noland

NCAA Tournament (Baseball Style)

The bracket has been announced. The Noles are a top 8 seeed. They will be joined by many others in the conference. Nobody has as many teams as the SEC though who has 8 teams (No Alabama). The ACC has the next most teams with 7 (FSU, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, UNC, NC State, and Miami). I thought Virginia Tech and Maryland had a shot, but after they weren't in the ACC Tournament it was hard for them to get the invite. Maybe next year. Another surprising exclusion was the Texas Longhorns. Texas is usually a team that does pretty well in tournament play so it is surprising to see them out of the field. The Miami Hurricanes have the most consecutive appearances with 40. Our beloved Noles are next with 35.

South Carolina was also a top 8 national seed as they try for their third straight title. They would be only the second team to do that.

The top 8 national seeds are listed here in order. If any of these teams advance, they will host super regionals next week. Winners of the Super Regionals advance to the College World Series.
1. Florida
2. UCLA
3. Florida State
4. Baylor
5. Oregon
6. UNC
7. LSU
8. South Carolina

All of those teams are pretty familiar with the top 8 besides the Baylor Bears. I cannot remember Baylor as a baseball powerhouse, but perhaps I am just forgetting their exploits. Now that I looked it up I can see that Baylor has been to three College World Series and been ranked in the top 8 twice.

Now on to the Tallahassee Regional.
I like the draw other than the fact that we must play Mississippi State. How does the SEC champion get into the regional of the #3 team in the nation. It would seem that Miss State should have hosted a regional or at least been at a regional that was not a host site. That I don't like. Miss State knocked us out of a regional before and I do not like to play them. However, we are the better team and should still win. Also in our bracket is first year postseason team, Samford. All 3 teams in the regional with us won their conference.

Friday, June 1, 2012
Game 1: Mississippi State vs. Samford - 12:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 2: Florida State vs. UAB - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 - 12:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 - 12:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Monday, June 4, 2012
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Tournament passes are $50.00 for reserved seats and $35 for general admission seats. These are good for every game of the tournament. Single game reserved seats are $12.00 with single game general admission tickets priced at $10.00 for adults, $7.00 for youth and students. The stadium will be cleared at the end of each game.

-Noland