Nearly 300 Division-I college baseball teams took the field this season.
Eight are still alive.
The College World Series opens today in Omaha, Neb., and Florida State is one of the lucky eight who will be battling it out for the 2017 national championship. The Seminoles open play in the CWS in prime time tonight against No. 4 national seed LSU. The game is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN.
The other two teams in FSU's bracket are Oregon State and Cal State Fullerton, and the consensus among college baseball experts is that this is the tougher of the two brackets. It certainly has the most tradition.
* LSU, which is the No. 4 national seed, has been to the College World Series 18 times and owns six national championships, with the last one coming in 2009.
* Oregon State, which is the No. 1 national seed, has been to the CWS six times and owns a pair of national titles (2006 and 2007). The Beavers have lost just four games all season.
* Cal State Fullerton has been to the CWS 18 times and has won four national championships, with the last one coming in 2004.
* Florida State has been to the CWS 22 times, with the most recent trip coming in 2012.
In preparation for tonight's game between the LSU Tigers and Florida State Seminoles, we take a closer look at both teams -- how they got here, scouting reports for their offense, defense and pitching, key players and more.
The winner of this game will advance to play the winner of the Oregon State-Cal State Fullerton game at 7 p.m. ET on Monday. The losers of the first two games will play at 2 p.m. ET Monday in an elimination game.
