TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The NCAA announced on Monday, May 25 the field of 64 for the 2015 NCAA Baseball Championship. FSU starts off against Mercer in the Tallahassee Regional at Mike Martin Field on Friday night. Florida State earned the automatic bid out of the Atlantic Coast Conference by virtue of winning its sixth league championship this past Sunday at the ACC Tournament in Durham. The Seminoles finished the regular season with a record of 41-19.
“We are excited to still be playing, we know we have our work cut out for us,” Florida State head coach Mike Martin said. “We remember what happened last year. Obviously, we want to player better; we want to get better every day. We look forward to playing a very good Mercer team on Friday night.”
As the host FSU is the No. 1 seed in this regional. The other teams are No. 2 College of Charleston (43-13), No. 3 Auburn (35-24) and No. 4 Mercer (35-21). Play begins on Friday, May 29.
Florida State is making its 38th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Baseball Tournament and 53rd overall including 36 straight trips under Martin. The Seminoles have posted an overall record of 177-117 in NCAA Tournament play.
College of Charleston received an at-large bid into the tournament out of the Colonial Athletic Association and is the No. 2 seed in this week's regional. The Cougars finished as the regular season champion in the CAA after finishing with a league mark of 21-3. College of Charleston enters this weekend’s regional ranked No. 15 in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches top 25 poll. Florida State and Charleston have met 10 times before but never in the postseason. The Seminoles are 9-1 all-time against the Cougars with their last game coming in 1995.
Auburn comes to Tallahassee as the No. 3 seed after earning an at-large bid out of the Southeastern Conference. Auburn finished the regular season with an overall record of 35-24 and 13-17 in the SEC good for a fourth place finish in the West Division. The Tigers are making their 19th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2010. The last time FSU and Auburn met was in 2009 as the Seminoles took two-of-three from the Tigers. The two schools have squared-off 14 times in the postseason with the last time coming in the 2005 Tallahassee Regional. FSU is 10-4 all-time against Auburn in NCAA Tournament play.
Mercer completes this year's four-team field earning the No. 4 seed in the Tallahassee Regional. The Bears finished the regular season with a record of 35-21 and received the automatic bid after winning the Southern Conference Championship. Florida State and Mercer have met 66 times before with the Seminoles leading the all-time series at 58-8. The two schools last met in Tallahassee in 2006 and will play for the first time in the postseason on Friday.
“It’s been a while since we played them,” said Martin on facing Mercer in the opening round game of the Tallahassee Regional. “They are well coached and played a good schedule; they played Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Georgia this year. We will go out and prepare for Mercer like we have for every team that we have faced this year. It should be a very exciting regional tournament in Tallahassee this weekend.”
***FSU Athletics
