FSU facing more than the UConn Huskies
After 23 fruitless trips to the CWS, can this be the year - at last?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
Sure, the Florida State Seminoles and the University of Connecticut – headed here this weekend for the 2024 NCAA Super Regional – have battled before. Two fine college baseball programs, they have to have faced one another before, right?
They did. Some 67 years ago on a sunny Sunday afternoon high on a hill at Omaha’s Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, they played in the 1957 College World Series.
Mike Martin Jr. “Meat” and Mike Martin Sr., in the dugout at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha
And, uh, well, with one out in the 9th, six measly strikes from elimination, then, and only then, the FSU Seminoles thought the time was ripe for a dramatic rally to try to avoid the first CWS elimination in school history. Talk about foreshadowing.
A walk, a single, a bunt, then down 0-2 in the count, FSU’s Frank Slusser slammed UConn starter Bob Wedin’s third pitch “to the 370-foot right center fence for a triple, three runs scoring,” according to Bill Newell’s story in the Hartford Courant.
“(Coach) Christian derricked Wedin at this point,” Newell wrote (Ed. note: Wouldn’t you have liked to see someone “derricked”?) and brought on “another lefty, (Bob) Butterfield.”
While Butterfield walked FSU shortstop and future Seminole stadium namesake Dick Howser, he then got Phil Hunt to fly to right and retired FSU’s Mike Copps on a high foul to catcher Lenny King.
The Noles were done. UConn didn’t get to the title game either, losing to Iowa State in their next CWS game. California won the title that year, a 1-0 title game win over Penn State. Imagine that! At the Rosenblatt launching pad!
Yes, folks, some 67 years and 23 trips later, one of the greatest programs in the history of American Collegiate Baseball, the Florida State Seminoles still have one huge hole in their otherwise overflowing trophy case. No CWS title.
Just as Danny Litwhiler’s initial trip to Omaha ended in defeat in 1957, even the winningest college baseball coach in history, FSU’s Mike Martin, who passed away earlier this year, tried 17 times over a 40-year career trying to get a CWS title and he failed every single time, losing in the title game to Miami most recently in 1999.
Boston Red Sox used to grouse about “The Curse Of The Bambino,” how the trade of Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees seemed to have hexed their franchise for decades.
While “0-for-Omaha” (0-for-23!) isn’t exactly the topic of general conversation around Howser Stadium these days, there’s no doubt that it hangs over the heads of every Seminole team like a baseball-bat shaped Sword of Damocles.
You could notice some of that tightness in Florida State’s Regional title game with UCF, trailing 2-0 after four very tense innings. A nine-run fifth decided that game and propelled FSU into this weekend’s date with the Huskies. But don’t think that history isn’t ever present here at Howser.
That was likely why, for FSU fans and administrators, it seemed essential to bring back a former Seminole to steer the team and break the curse when it was decided to jettison Martin’s son as the program’s leader and his father’s successor a year ago after Martin Jr’s two so-so seasons.
Two-time National Coach of the Year Link Jarrett, a former Seminole shortstop, was brought back into the fold last year and trying to win with someone else’s recruits was a disaster.
After a 23-31 record, the first losing season in FSU’s glorious baseball history, Jarrett knew what he had to do, deep-sixed 25 players from his roster, restocking it with talents from the transfer portal.
It was a glorious success as the Seminoles improved to 45-15, earning a National #8 seed, an NCAA Regional and with a win over the University of Central Florida in the Regional, they were rewarded with a Super Regional. '
With a 30-4 home mark this season, you would think would give them a considerable home-field advantage over the visitors from Storrs.
In addition, Jarrett determined today that the most welcoming game-times he could conjure for these Connecticut visitors would be midday games – Noon, 90-plus degree temperatures. Welcome to Tallahassee, Huskies.
Jarrett used a similar strategy in the Regional, opening with Stetson in midday, instead of the usual Friday night start for the home team.
While the official explanation was they just wanted to get the Regional started rather than having his players sitting around, the pitching-strapped Seminoles were likely also thinking about giving their pitchers more time in-between games to rest their wings.
The UConn Huskies haven’t been to the College World Series in 45 years, making the Omaha trek in 1957, 1959, 1965, 1972 and 1979.
But noting that, it’s important to consider that teams from the northern climate have had a distinct scheduling disadvantage thanks to the weather.
For example, FSU opened the 2024 season vs. Butler on February 18. It was 36 degrees and partly cloudy at Eliot Field on that day.
The NCAA, after many years, finally did something about that, extended the end of the regular season, starting the College World Series later in the year. We'll see if that makes a difference. It hasn't yet.
The last “Northern” team to win a College World Series was either Marty Karow’s Ohio State team in 1966 if you consider Ohio north or Dick Siebert’s Minnesota team in 1964.
While The Beatles were celebrating the height of Beatlemania in Sydney, Australia with a sold-out show on June 20, Siebert was returning home to Minneapolis after winning a third College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium. He achieved those titles being able to offer just five (5) college scholarships.
The Huskies have come within sight of Omaha, reaching the Super Regional in 2011 in Columbia, South Carolina with four future big-leaguers on their roster, including George Springer. But two-time national champ South Carolina prevailed in that one.
As recently at 2022, after winning a Regional in Maryland, UConn went all the way across the country to face Stanford in the Sunken Diamond and UConn snatched the first game, 13-12, leaving them a single win from a trip to Omaha.
But Stanford righted the ship, won the next two games and made it back to the CWS, sending the Huskies back home.
While the 2024 Huskies might have gone under the national radar until this point, long-time coach Jim Penders’ team’s practically immaculate 7-1 victory over Oklahoma Monday night made it clear that his team can play with anyone.
Their poise and maturity – UConn most definitely has the most graduate students in college baseball history - their flawless defense, opportunistic offense and particularly, the exceptional left-handed starting pitching of Gabe Van Emon made it clear that the Seminoles will be in for a considerable challenge.
Then there's the matter of trying to turn the tide of history.