Arizona Faces Florida State Friday Night in College World Series

The No. 1 Arizona Wildcats (43-17) will face the No. 3 seed Florida State Seminoles (48-15) Friday night.

The Wildcats averaged about 16 runs through three games of its own regional play. Arizona overcame a 5-0 deficit in game one against the St. John’s Red Storm and won the game in 10 innings, 7-6. They then took game two with a 7-4 victory to reach Omaha, marking the Wildcats’ 16th trip to the College World Series.

Florida State also went 5-0 to reach the College World Series, outscoring its regional opponents, 15-4. The trip to Omaha is the team’s 21st appearance in the CWS. The first game ended up being a 17-1 over Stanford and game two was a 18-7 win for Florida State. Florida State’s first baseman Jayce Boyd, who leads the team with a .389 batting average and 59 RBI, says the team is here to win the College World Series and not just to participate in it.

FSU’s catcher Stephen McGee has his own take on the CWS, saying it’s a different arena, but it’s just like going on the road anywhere else.

The two teams will face each other for the sixth time in the history of the series. It is also the second time the two schools will meet in an opening game of the CWS as FSU defeated Arizona 4-0 in 1970. The last meeting between these two was in the championship series in 1986 with Arizona claiming its third national title.

Florida State is 172-111 all-time in NCAA Tournament play but Arizona leads the all-time series at 6-5.