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Published Jun 9, 2024
FSU set to open College World Series vs. No. 1 overall seed Tennessee
Curt Weiler  •  TheOsceola
Senior Writer
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@CurtMWeiler

Florida State found out Sunday night who it will face in its College World Series opener next weekend.

The eighth-seeded Seminoles (47-15) will open their CWS run at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha against No. 1 overall seed Tennessee (55-12) after the Volunteers beat Evansville 12-1 in the winner-take-all third game of the Knoxville Super Regional Sunday evening.

The game is expected to be Friday. Whether it will be the 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. game that day will be announced Monday night after all eight CWS tickets have been punched.

It'll be an extremely tough opener for the Seminoles. Tennessee entered Sunday as the national leader in home runs (166, 20 more than any other team) and also No. 6 nationally in earned run average (3.90).

While nothing is set in stone and likely won't be announced until Thursday, it seems probable that FSU will move sophomore ace Jamie Arnold (11-3, 2.77 ERA) up a day to face the Volunteers in the opening game.

FSU is 7-4 all-time vs. Tennessee. This will be the first postseason matchup between the programs and the first matchup since 2007 when FSU opened the regular season with a weekend sweep of the Volunteers in Tallahassee.

FSU won its opening game of the College World Series the last time it was in Omaha in 2019, beating Arkansas 1-0. But that was just the second time in FSU's last nine Omaha trips that it won its first game.

It'll also be a familiar opponent for FSU head coach Link Jarrett. In his final season at Notre Dame in 2022, his Irish squad advanced to the CWS by going into Knoxville and winning a super regional against No. 1 overall seed Tennessee.

The other two teams on FSU's side of the bracket are fellow ACC teams in Virginia and North Carolina, who each swept their respective home super regionals to clinch Omaha trips on Saturday.

That means that win or lose vs. Tennessee, FSU's second game in Omaha two days after its opener will be against an in-conference opponent.

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