The Florida State baseball team just got back in town early Wednesday morning around 1:30 a.m. after a five-day, four-game road trip at Pittsburgh and Stetson.
The Seminoles left town just after tornadoes and heavy winds ravaged Tallahassee and the surrounding area Friday morning. The area around campus was hit hard enough that 10 FSU players had to stay in hotels Tuesday night because their apartments were still without power when the team got back into town nearly five full days after the storm.
FSU head coach Link Jarrett only saw the damage still visible around town on Wednesday morning when he drove around a bit before heading into campus.
"I don't know if I've ever seen anything like I saw here this morning," Jarrett said.
Of the numerous facilities on FSU's campus, one of the hardest-hit by the storm was the baseball stadium, Dick Howser Stadium. The chain-link right-field fence extension as well as the right-field foul pole were bent backwards by the storm and there was also some damage around the scoreboard in left-center field.
While there was originally a bit of uncertainty if the 10th-ranked Seminoles (37-13, 15-11 in ACC) would be able to host their final regular-season games vs. Georgia Tech (30-19, 14-13) at Howser.
However, FSU announced Tuesday that Howser has been cleared to host the GT series, which is set to begin Thursday at 7 p.m.
"We're fortunate to have people out here trying to help us get this thing right," Jarrett said of the FSU stadium repairs that have been going on since Friday.
After the damaged fence/foul pole were removed over the weekend, a new fence was being added to FSU's short porch in right field Wednesday afternoon. It won't be the full 20 feet that Howser previously had in right field but it's a 10-feet extension to the brick fence which should make things a bit closer to normal.
"Having part of that screen makes it a little bit more normal than if there was nothing..." Jarrett said. "I don't know how many balls this year have hit the upper two sections of that screen. It may not be as much as you think."
GT series will prove critical for the Seminoles
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If FSU had any margin for error entering this final stretch of the regular season when it comes to national seed candidacy, it's safe to say the last four games may have expended it.
With a series loss at Pittsburgh over the weekend followed by a midweek loss at Stetson Tuesday, FSU is no longer universally projected to be a top-eight overall seed who sees its entire path to the College World Series go through home games.
Baseball America's updated NCAA Tournament projections Wednesday morning actually did keep FSU in the top eight national seeds, projecting the Seminoles as the No. 7 overall seed.
D1Baseball, however, dropped FSU from the No. 7 overall seed last week to the No. 9 overall seed in Wednesday's update. Georgia and Wake Forest, which both swept ranked opponents over the weekend, both moved into the top eight over the Seminoles, who are 1-3 in their last four against teams below 100 in the RPI.
FSU should still host an NCAA regional for the first time since 2018 so long as it doesn't utterly collapse and lose out all the way to Selection Monday. However, whether FSU earns a top-eight seed and earns the right to also host a super regional should it make that far is very much up in the air over the next two weeks with the GT series and the ACC Tournament next week in Charlotte.
Speaking of the ACC Tournament, seeding for the tournament -- something that is very important given the pool-play format, which heavily favors the top four seeds -- hangs in the balance for the Seminoles as well this weekend vs. GT.
FSU enters the final week of the regular season tied for third in the ACC standings at 15-11 in conference play. As things currently stand, FSU would be a top-four seed and advance out of its pool if all three teams finish pool play 1-1. However, NC State is also at 15-11, three teams (Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia) are 15-12 in ACC games, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are 14-13 and Louisville is 13-14.
As such, a series loss this weekend vs. the Yellow Jackets could send the Seminoles tumbling down the ACC standings depending on results elsewhere. That would likely give them a tougher path through pool play and into the ACC Tournament semifinals.
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No. 10 Florida State vs. Georgia Tech
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m.
Where: Dick Howser Stadium
TV/Radio: ACC Network Extra/100.7 FM in Tallahassee and online at seminoles.leanplayer.com
