FSU plays at Clemson this weekend, a place where the Seminole have managed to win only two games since 1992. Clemson is the only team in the ACC that has a winning record against the ‘Noles since FSU joined the league. There’s no doubt that Clemson’s Doug Kingsmore Stadium is a tough place for opponents to win, but it’s not the toughest in the conference. That honor goes to Dick Howser Stadium, where the Seminoles have won 26 straight ACC games dating back to 2000. It also means that over the past two years, FSU has swept every other ACC team, a great feat in one of the nation’s toughest conferences.

Baseball Americareports that the NCAA baseball selection committee has dropped its guideline regarding having teams from the same conference play in the same regional tournament. Until this year, that’s been a no-no. Now, teams from the same conference can be sent to the same regional as long as they don’t play each other in the first round. I don’t have a huge problem with this, but I do think the reason given for it is bogus. The committee apparently is citing September 11 security concerns, and wants to set pairings so nobody needs to fly to a regional site. The stated goal is to not make a team travel more than 400 miles to get to a regional site. Sounds more like they found a convenient excuse to grease the tracks to Omaha for weaker northern teams and save travel money. The NCAA pays for travel for tournament participants, and chartering buses is a lot cheaper than buying plane tickets three days in advance. I have seen absolutely no data that indicates that September 11 made flying statistically less safe. However, given the four-day notice teams get as to where they’re playing, the move will make it easier for fans to follow them on the road.

One of the reasons the NCAA likes to put regionals in Tallahassee was illustrated during Sunday’s game against Maryland. Terrapin pitcher Sean Kane was perfect for 4.1 innings and retired eighteen of the first nineteen FSU batters. When the Seminoles finally tied the game in the seventh inning and chased Kane, he got an ovation from the FSU crowd, many of whom were standing. Talk about the epitome of sportsmanship! Of course, anyone who’s been going to FSU baseball games knows this is just part of the best atmosphere in college baseball. Even Gator players who make a great play against the ‘Noles have gotten applause at Howser, albeit a little more grudgingly.

Maryland head coach Terry Rupp went after Sunday’s plate umpire, Henry Stancil, chasing him almost to the corridor to the umpire’s dressing room after Nick Rogers walked on four pitches to force in the winning run. From where I sat, maybe only one pitch to Nick was even a borderline call. Rupp might get reprimanded for his outburst, but I know he had to be frustrated after losing two of three games in the bottom of the ninth inning. Despite going 6-18 in the ACC and 0-10 in conference road games, Rupp has brought the Terrapins a long way in just two years. Until this year, they hadn’t still been in most of their games against FSU in the ninth inning. In previous years, FSU’s trips to Maryland have been a "relax, take care of business, and win three" kind of trip. I have a feeling that the 2003 journey to Shipley Field won’t be nearly as easy for the Seminoles or any other Maryland opponent.

Forgive me, but I had to tell a lie on Sunday. Ten minutes before he was going to be presented with a new custom-made Rolex watch at a ceremony in the baseball tradition room, Chip Baker cornered me and asked "does anyone have anything planned for me?" regarding his last regular-season home game as a coach. I’m a terrible liar, always seeming to give myself away, but I managed to tell Chip "no" with a straight face. Chip told me he didn’t want a big fuss made. I think I wasn’t the only one fibbing during that conversation.

It had been rumored that Link Jarrett would become FSU’s newest assistant coach next year almost since the start of the season, amid word that Baker would be taking an off-the-field post with the program. I asked Link a couple of months ago while he was in town for a Sunshine Network broadcast, and he confirmed it. He also asked me to keep it to myself, as he hadn’t told the players he coaches at Flagler College about the move, and also didn’t want any adverse effects on Flagler’s recruiting efforts. Now he’s told his players, and I saw the story on Warchant.com this week. That means I can finally say it’ll be great to have Link back in a Seminole uniform again.

I haven’t asked, mostly because I doubt he’d admit that it bothers him, but I wonder if Stephen Drew would rather not have his performance judged by his older brother’s FSU career. It seems like every time someone writes or talks about something Stephen has done, the report includes whether it’s more or less incredible than what J.D. did in his freshman year or during a season. I’m an only child, but my best friend when I was a kid was the youngest of three brothers. His older siblings were big-time sports stars in junior high and high school, and everyone expected him to follow in their footsteps. That really used to bug my friend. We don’t take time to compare Bryan Zech with Scott, do we? We don’t even make a big deal of comparing Matt and Kevin Lynch, and they’re playing on the same team. Maybe we should let Stephen’s performance speak for itself.

I’ve previously confessed to being a "stat rat" when it comes to following college baseball, but I always try to remember that statistics are only about what a player or team has done in the past. Yes, they do indicate tendencies, but the reason coaches make decisions that go "against the book" all the time is because stats can’t absolutely predict the future. Look at Tony McQuade’s numbers from last year, for example.

It’s not a stretch to say this year’s ACC tournament could be the toughest of the entire post-season for FSU, even if the Seminoles make it to Omaha. Between the strength of the teams and the number of games needed to win the ACC title (five or six games in four or five days), it’ll be a tremendous experience for the conference teams to have under their belts going into the NCAA’s the following week.

I’m not really sure what the attachment that many people have to the pedestrian tunnel under Pensacola Street between Howser and Doak Campbell is all about. Nonetheless, after reading that the tunnel would be closed for demolition after last weekend, I took one last walk down and back through it after Sunday’s Maryland game. I wondered if I could get my hands on one of those big nuts that are screwed into the metal once they tear it out. I remember banging my head on one of them once upon a time. Nope, I can’t figure out what the attachment is.

Go 'Noles!

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