FSU to host UConn for Super Regional; play will begin Friday at noon
When the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced last Monday, many assumed if the No. 8 national seed Florida State Seminoles advanced to the Super Regionals, they’d be facing No. 9 overall seed Oklahoma.
And if not the Sooners, then perhaps the Duke Blue Devils, who were the No. 2 seed in the Norman Regional.
Nope and nope.
Instead, Florida State (46-15) will welcome in the UConn Huskies this weekend for a Super Regional showdown in Dick Howser Stadium. The Huskies knocked off Oklahoma on Monday night to win the Norman Regional and advance to the third Super Regional in program history.
FSU and UConn will open play Friday at noon on ESPN, then play again Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN. If necessary, Sunday’s Game 3 will be played at noon on ESPN2.
UConn beat Duke 4-1 on Friday, then Oklahoma 4-1 on Saturday. The Huskies lost to the Sooners on Sunday but came back on Monday to knock off the hosts 7-1 and earn a shot at the Seminoles this weekend. UConn is now 35-24 on the season.
The Huskies proved in the regional, like they had for much of the year, that they have enough pitching to compete with just about anyone in the country. In only one of the four games in Norman did the Huskies give up more than one run. And they committed just one error on defense — and it came in the ninth inning Monday with a 7-0 lead.
Right-handed senior pitcher Stephen Quigley was one of the stars for the Huskies, allowing just one run in eight innings on Saturday night to beat the Sooners. He then came back on Monday — after throwing 124 pitches in that start — and pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to wrap up a spot in the Supers against the Seminoles. The graduate student has thrown 97 2/3 innings this season.
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In UConn’s 4-1 win over Duke in the regional opener, Ian Cooke went 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one run, and reliever Braden Quinn threw 3 1/3 scoreless. Combine those efforts with what Monday starter, Gabe Van Emon (7 1/3 innings pitched, zero runs), did against the Sooners, and you see why UConn was considered to have the best pitching staff in the Big East.
It was certainly impressive in Norman.
And now head coach Jim Penders, in his 21st season at the helm, will be back in the Super Regionals for the third time. He has led the Huskies to 10 NCAA Tournaments overall, including six in a row. And two years ago, his team lost in Game 3 of the Super Regionals to No. 2 overall seed Stanford.
Florida State advanced to its NCAA-leading 18th Super Regional by sweeping through the Tallahassee Regional with three straight wins this past weekend.
*ALSO SEE: Ira Schoffel: An incredible turnaround, but unfinished business for FSU Baseball
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