FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State University and Seminole Baseball announced on Tuesday, October 9 the schedule for the 2013 season. The Seminoles will open the year with a 15-game home stand inside the friendly confines of Dick Howser Stadium on Mike Martin Field. Opening weekend in Tallahassee will begin Friday, February 15 with a three-game series against the University of Rhode Island.
“It’s always important that we play as many games as we can at home early in the season because our weather is perfect to play baseball at that time of year,” said head coach Mike Martin. “The main thing is with a young club that we have got to find out what this team can do and what better way to do that than to find out at home.”
Thirteen teams on this year’s schedule recorded 30 or more wins a season ago. Seven schools earned a bid to participate in the 2012 NCAA Regional, while four teams finished the season ranked in the top 25.
FSU and Florida will square-off three times in 2013 as each team will host a game sandwiched with a meeting in Jacksonville at the Baseball Grounds on March 26. Also featured on this year’s schedule is a late weekend non-conference showdown with UCF in Tallahassee, May 3-5. The Seminoles will renew their rivalry with USF in week two of the season as the Bulls travel to Tallahassee for a three-game series, February 22-24. FSU and USF last met on June 2, 2002 in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
“The schedule is similar to what it has been for the past three decades,” said Martin. “We are going to play a very competitive schedule and I’m sure if you look on there you will see a number of teams that participated in postseason play including three against the No. 1 team in the country last year for a majority of the season in the University of Florida.”
The Seminoles, who have won six consecutive ACC Atlantic Division titles, will compete in a 30-game conference schedule playing all but one league school. FSU will kick-off its ACC schedule on Friday, March 8 in Tallahassee against Boston College. The other four conference home series features Georgia Tech (March 22-24), Duke (April 12-14), Wake Forest (April 26-28) and Clemson (May 16-18) in the final week of the regular season.
FSU’s conference road slate includes Maryland (March 15-17), Virginia Tech (March 29-31), Miami (April 5-7), Virginia (April 19-21) and NC State (May 10-12). The lone league school off the schedule for the second straight year is North Carolina.
“Of course one of the biggest disappointments is not playing the University of North Carolina,” added Martin. “But we have Miami down there, will visit a very good NC State ball club late in the season, and host Georgia Tech and Clemson, so we have a very, very competitive schedule as usual.”
Along with games against Florida, USF and UCF, Florida State’s non-conference schedule is highlighted by three more schools from the state of Florida including Jacksonville, Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast. The remaining non-conference schedule features Villanova (March 1-3), Presbyterian College (March 5-6) and a single mid-week match-up against the University of South Alabama on April 16.
The ACC Baseball Tournament returns to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C., for the third time in five seasons. In 2009 and 2011, the Seminoles played in the ACC Championship game hosted by Durham. The 2013 tournament will be held May 22-26.
2013 Florida State Schedule (PDF)
