Quote:Florida State Announces 2006 Baseball Schedule
Seminoles will face off with eight teams that played in the 2005 NCAA
Tournament.


Tallahassee, FL - Florida State University announced its 2006 baseball schedule Friday and it features eight teams who played in the 2005 NCAA Baseball Tournament this past season. The Seminoles will face off with NC State, UNC, Auburn and Winthrop who all played in a regional this year. They will also take on Super Regional teams in Miami, Clemson and Georgia Tech on top of National Championship Runner-Up Florida. The schedule also features the first-ever meeting with Division II National Champion Runner-Up North Florida.

For the first time since 1999 the Seminoles will not be making a trip out West in 2006. The last six years FSU teams have made two trips to Stanford, CA, Tempe, AZ and Hawai'i. This season the Seminoles will not play a single game west of the Mississippi River. After traveling over 4,500 to get to Hawai'i last season, the Seminoles longest road trip this year will be a 1,100 mile jaunt to Chestnut Hill. The longest out-of-conference trip will be just 165 miles to Auburn, AL.

The 2006 out of conference slate sees the Seminoles opening the season at home February 3 versus Charleston Southern followed by an early season test at Auburn the following weekend. FSU then returns home for a 14-game home stand versus UNC-Asheville, Big 10 Tournament Runner-Up Minnesota, Ivy League Runner-Up Brown University, a single game with Mercer and concluding with the first ACC series of the year against Maryland. The home stand concludes with a single game against a Winthrop squad that went 44-21 last season and played in the NCAA Tournament.

Minnesota, Brown and Mercer are all coming off one of their best seasons in recent history. The Golden Gophers were a win away from securing an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Brown finished with the second-best Ivy League record in 2005 and it will be the first meeting between the schools since 1971.  Mercer had its best campaign since 1999 last season and they will come to Tallahassee with former Seminole standout shortstop Link Jarrett in their dugout. It will be Jarrett's first trip to Dick Howser Stadium since he was an assistant coach with FSU in 2003. FSU's mid-week game with Winthrop will be the first meeting between the schools in over a decade. The Eagles posted a respectable 5-5 record versus ACC schools in 2005.

Florida State hits the road for its first series at Virginia Tech since 1990 before returning home for five more games. The first is one of four mid-week games with Jacksonville University. FSU then hosts Duke before its first ever game against newly minted Division I UNF. The Osprey finished their 2005 campaign in the Division II National Championship game and with a No. 2 national ranking.

The Seminoles head back on the road the next weekend as they travel to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels. Florida State went 4-0 against UNC in 2005 and will carry a five-game winning streak into Boshamer Stadium.  After the second JU game of the season, Florida State will make its first trip ever to Boston College. It will not only be the first ACC meeting between the schools but the first-ever games played between the teams.  FSU then continues its set with JU before welcoming the Hurricanes to Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium.

The series with UM signifies the start of a 12-game home stand that features seven games against teams that played in Super Regionals and the College World Series. After facing Miami April 14-16, national runner-up Florida comes to town for the first of just two meetings this season. That game will be followed by Georgia Tech's return to Tallahassee. The last time the Jackets visited FSU they became the first ACC team to ever sweep the Seminoles at home. Savannah State comes in the following weekend for the final non-conference weekend series of the year. FSU will then conclude its series with the Dolphins.

Florida State will embark on its longest road stretch of the season next as they play their next seven games away from home. The trek begins in Winston-Salem, NC for a series with the Demon Deacons. The Seminoles will then play four straight on the road versus teams that advanced to at least the Super Regional in 2005. FSU will head to South Carolina for three versus the Tigers and complete their home-and-home series with Florida in Gainesville. The Seminoles will then return home to wrap-up the regular season versus NC State. This will be the second straight year FSU and NC State complete the regular season against one another.

The ACC Tournament is slated for May 23-28 and once again will be played at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville, FL. NCAA Regionals begin June 2 with Super Regionals beginning as early as June 9. The College World Series kicks off a week later starting June 16.

Full Schedule:
http://www.sectionb.com