Tallahassee Regional Preview: Samford

Florida State will take on the 4 Seeded Bulldogs in their opening game bout, which will come against a very respectable team. Samford won the SOCON Tournament against Mercer 14–4 on Sunday giving them their 2nd tournament championship in the past seven seasons.

PITCHING

Samford is led by their ace Samuel Stricklan, who will pitch against FSU on Friday night. Stricklan (8–2) 1.89 ERA has been lights out this season, and will surely give Florida State something to look out for in their opening game match up. The Bullpen features a trio of stellar arms in Wyatt Burns (5–3) 1.68 ERA, Caleb Maggio (1–0) 2.00 ERA, and Josh Rick (6–5) 2.64 ERA. The pitching depth the Bulldogs have is impressive, and might even be the best in the regional.

BATTING

The Bulldogs are not the strongest when it comes to the offensive department, as they only have two players hitting over .300 for the year. Their MVP, Brooks Carlson will be a name to lookout for when Samford takes the field, he is batting .350 with 44 RBIs and 8 HRs, which is tied for first on the team. Fans should also be on the lookout for Anthony Mulrine, who is batting .312 with 47 RBIs and 7 HRs. All in all the Bulldogs will not scare anyone with their hitting capabilities, but combined with their pitching it’s no surprise they are where they are today.

Regional Outlook

Last season, I picked UIC to beat Southern Miss in the first round game of the Hattiesburg Regional, and it almost happened. However, this year I can’t pick against the Seminoles, not in their ballpark with Mark Martin coaching. I believe the Bulldogs will go 0–2 in the Tallahassee Regional, losing two close games to Florida State and Oklahoma.

Tomorrow: Florida State Preview

Thursday: Oklahoma Preview