After another strong run in the ACC Tournament to win the crown, Florida State will yet again host another regional.
This year’s version of the Tallahassee regional will include Mississippi State, Oklahoma and Samford.
We’ll give a brief breakdown of each team before picking a winner.
- Florida State 43-17 (16-13)
Florida State entered the year as a favorite to reach Omaha, but a season-ending injury to their Friday night starter derailed them a little. A strong finish has them hosting again, which is exactly where we expected them to be this year. Catcher Cal Raleigh leads the team on offense with a .330 average to go along with 13 home runs and 54 RBI. Drew Medonza is right there with him with a .317 average and 43 RBI. Jackson Lueck has struggled to hit for average this year, but delivered the power with 15 home runs. Overall, they hit .268 as a team and scored 6.8 runs per game. Drew Parish is their ace with 121 strikeouts in 98.1 innings pitched with a 2.47 ERA. Andrew Karp was great as well with a 3.97 ERA in 81.2 innings pitched with 97 strikeouts. They had a staff ERA of 3.87 with 627 strikeouts in 548.2 innings pitched.
- Mississippi State 31-25 (15-15)
Things got off to a bad start for Mississippi State as they were swept by Southern Miss in the opening weekend and then lost their head coach. Then they started just 2-7 in SEC play. But things started to click towards the end as they swept Florida on the final weekend of the regular season. However, they went one-and-out in the SEC Tournament and I’m surprised they are the two-seed in a regional. They hit .278 as a team this year and scored 5.8 runs per game, while the pitching staff had an ERA of 4.25 with 512 strikeouts in 506.1 innings pitched. Outfielder Jake Mangum led the team with a .353 average this year and 51 runs scored. It’s pretty unusual for an SEC team to not have anyone with more than 6 home runs in their lineup, but Mississippi State always finds a way to score runs. Ethan Small was great on the mound this year for the Bulldogs with a 2.94 ERA in 79.2 innings pitched with 99 strikeouts.
- Oklahoma 36-23 (14-10)
It’s been an up-and-down year for Oklahoma who has looked like a top 25 team at times, and not even a top 40 team at other times. They hit .273 as a team this year and averaged 6 runs a game. Steele Walker is a top MLB prospect and led the Sooners with a .352 average this year, 13 home runs and 53 RBI. He’s not alone though as Kyler Murray hit .296 with 46 runs scored, 10 home runs and 47 RBI. All three of their starting pitchers has an ERA under four. Kyle Tyler leads the staff with a 2.84 ERA, but Jake Irvin is right behind him at 2.85 with 109 strikeouts in 91.2 innings pitched. Austin Hansen has been great out of the bullpen with a 2.39 ERA in 37.2 innings pitched with 51 strikeouts and 8 saves. As a pitching staff they have a 3.84 ERA in 534 innings pitched with 576 strikeouts.
- Samford 36-24 (16-8)
Samford was 11-14 through their first 25 games of the season, but then won 13 straight – including wins over Auburn and Alabama. They were able to avoid UNCG – who swept them during the regular season — in the SOCON Tournament and went on to win the automatic spot. Brooks Carlson led the team with a .350 average to go along with 44 runs scored, 16 doubles, 8 home runs and 44 RBI. As a team they hit .269 and scored 5.7 runs per game. Samuel Stricklan leads the rotation with a 1.89 ERA in 76.1 innings pitched with 82 strikeouts. Cody Shelton had a solid season as well with a 3.08 ERA in 79 innings pitched with 69 strikeouts. Wyatt Burns was lights out from the bullpen with a 1.68 ERA in 59 innings pitched with 77 strikeouts. The Samford pitching staff posted a 3.48 ERA this year in 535.2 innings pitched with 553 strikeouts.
Prediction:
With no disrespect to other teams in this regional, it would be quite the shock if the Seminoles don’t advance. The only real threat to them in this regional is Oklahoma. They have the talent to keep up with Florida State, but they’ve been very inconsistent all year. I don’t have faith that the Sooners can put together three or four good games over the weekend. You can also expect a lot of strikeouts in this regional with two of the top pitching staffs in the country when it comes to strikeouts.
Winner: Florida State
