Florida is the No. 1 overall seed
in the NCAA baseball tournament, one of six in-state bids.
The Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes earned coveted national seeds, allowing them to host both Regional and Super Regional games if they advance in the NCAA Tournament.
UF (47-13) is the No. 1 overall national seed, while Miami (45-11) is the No. 3 seed. They headline six in-state teams that earned NCAA bids Monday.
The Gators will face Bethune-Cookman (29-25) at 6 p.m. Friday. UConn (37-23) will play Georgia Tech (36-23) at 1 p.m. Friday on the other side of the Gainesville Regional bracket.
UF set a school record with 44 regular-season wins and earned the No. 1 overall seed for the second time in school history (2012).
“I think the biggest thing is just being one of the top eight national seeds,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Whether you’re first or eighth, it doesn’t have much impact on the big picture. The bottom line is playing at home for both the Regional and Super Regional.”
O’Sullivan pointed out that
Bethune-Cookman (MEAC) and UConn (AAC) both won conference titles, while Georgia Tech navigated tough ACC competition to reach the postseason.
“I don’t think this is going to be a very easy regional in any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “It will be challenging for us, but we’re looking forward to playing at home.”
While Florida State is not a national seed, the Seminoles earned the right to host the Tallahassee Regional. FSU (37-20) will take on No. 4 seed Alabama State (38-15) at 6 p.m. Friday. On the other side of the bracket, South Alabama (40-20) will take on Southern Miss (40-18) at noon Friday.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment for our team to gain a host site,” FSU coach Mike Martin said after the lineup was set during Monday’s selection show.
FSU has been given no favors, with South Alabama and Southern Miss both considered as possible regional hosts earlier in the season and Alabama State recording an impeccable 24-0 record in SWAC play.
Play will continue throughout the weekend, following a double-elimination format.As it turns out, FSU also has a history with multiple teams headed to Tallahassee for the regional.
“[Many years ago,] we played South Alabama and it was as big a game as we had when we played Louisville or Miami. It was a huge rivalry,” Martin said. “South Alabama has great tradition and Southern Miss used to play against us in the Metro [Conference]. Very good baseball teams in this regional.”
Should the Seminoles win this weekend’s Tallahassee Regional, they would advance to face the winner of the Gainesville Regional, which features No. 1 national seed Florida, which swept FSU in the three-game set played during the regular season.
However, Martin is making sure his team doesn’t look past this weekend to a possible rematch of last year’s Super Regional between FSU and UF.
“There’s a lot of baseball to be played,” Martin said. “For us to think that we are going to play Florida at Florida, we’re not very smart. We have a game with Alabama State that we must play well in in order to be successful, so our focus is on Alabama State.”
Miami will open regional play against Stetson (29-29) at 7 p.m. Friday in Coral Gables. On the other side of the bracket, Long Beach State (36-20) will play FAU (38-17) at 1 p.m. Friday.
“Any time you’re in the top eight, it’s good,” UM coach Jim Morris said. “The higher you are up, the better it is. This should give you every advantage to go back to Omaha. At the beginning of the year and every year, that is our goal.”
The Owls and Hatters, meanwhile, have regularly played in Coral Gables and aren’t intimidated by the Hurricanes.
“We are not strangers to Mark Light Stadium, so our guys won’t go in there with eyes wide,” Stetson coach Pete Dunn said. “Since we played them early in the season, all they have done is gotten better and better. It is going to be a challenge for us, but with the way our kids played in the conference tournament, if we can maintain that, then we will have a shot to upset them.”