There will be some serious speed on the basepaths at Dick Howser Stadium this weekend.
Northeastern, the No. 2 seed in the Tallahassee Regional that Florida State is hosting this weekend, has stolen 192 bases in 57 games this season, second-most nationally and the most of any team competing in the NCAA Tournament.
Bethune-Cookman, the No. 4 seed who FSU will open play against Friday at 3 p.m. (ACC Network), enters the Tallahassee Regional with 125 stolen bases, 23rd nationally and sixth among teams competing in the NCAA Tournament.
Mississippi State, the No. 3 seed in the regional, generates much of its offense in other ways with a .537 slugging percentage which ranks 11th nationally and sixth among NCAA Tournament teams. However, the Bulldogs do have at least some speed capability with 42 stolen bases on 50 attempts (84%) this season.
That could prove to be the biggest hurdle for FSU's pitching staff this weekend in its path to a second straight super regional appearance.
"When you've stolen (almost) 200 bases, just unbelievable savviness on the bases," FSU head coach Link Jarrett said of Northeastern. "They're an older team, they're gritty. They play really well, really hard."
At times this season, allowing stolen bases has been a real problem for FSU's pitching staff and defense. The second game of the Louisville series in which the Cardinals stole a program-record 14 bases (on 14 attempts) against Joey Volini and various members of the FSU bullpen certainly serves as a nasty flashback.
Overall, FSU has allowed opposing teams to steal 69 bases on 89 attempts (77.5%). That's actually a marginally better caught-stealing percentage than FSU's on the basepaths this season. The Seminoles' offense has stolen 60 bases on 76 attempts (78.9%) entering this weekend's regional.
Jarrett credits some of those struggles with throwing out baserunners due to not being able to fully practice these situations as well during the course of a long season as they are during the preseason when practices can be longer and tougher.
"We absolutely work on it, and we haven't been great with it so we're trying," Jarrett said. "The ebbs and flows of what you deal with as a coach when you go through the season, you feel like you come out of the gates and you've got four or five good weeks of practice, and you're scrimmaging so everybody's involved, and there's so many reps, and there's so much going on, and you can throw the base runners out there, and you can create what you want.
"Then when you get into the season, the days of grinding through some practices and really doing some things that you might have done in the fall or the preseason, it's difficult. After our Tuesday night games, to roll out here on Wednesday afternoon before you fly out on Thursday, I'm conscious of what we're working on and how hard we push some of the guys. When you're working on this stuff on the mound, quite frankly, some of it has to do with throwing. You have to make some throws to do it."
In all honesty, FSU has been a bit better defensively against base-stealers down the stretch of the season. After that disastrous showing at Louisville, FSU has allowed 15 stolen bases on 22 attempts (68.1%) in the 13 games since, with only two games where opponents stole three or more bases.
Jarrett is hoping that some off time between games this week after a grueling regular-season schedule can help his team better prepare for this speed challenge that awaits this weekend in FSU's home regional.
"There was a good pocket this week where we could work on some things that have been on my mind..." Jarrett said. "There's things coaching-wise that you know we need to touch on and improve on, and I hope that this week provided a runway to be a little bit better at some of the things that we haven't maybe managed as well in the later part of the season."
Northeastern, the No. 2 seed in the Tallahassee Regional that Florida State is hosting this weekend, has stolen 192 bases in 57 games this season, second-most nationally and the most of any team competing in the NCAA Tournament.
Bethune-Cookman, the No. 4 seed who FSU will open play against Friday at 3 p.m. (ACC Network), enters the Tallahassee Regional with 125 stolen bases, 23rd nationally and sixth among teams competing in the NCAA Tournament.
Mississippi State, the No. 3 seed in the regional, generates much of its offense in other ways with a .537 slugging percentage which ranks 11th nationally and sixth among NCAA Tournament teams. However, the Bulldogs do have at least some speed capability with 42 stolen bases on 50 attempts (84%) this season.
That could prove to be the biggest hurdle for FSU's pitching staff this weekend in its path to a second straight super regional appearance.
"When you've stolen (almost) 200 bases, just unbelievable savviness on the bases," FSU head coach Link Jarrett said of Northeastern. "They're an older team, they're gritty. They play really well, really hard."
At times this season, allowing stolen bases has been a real problem for FSU's pitching staff and defense. The second game of the Louisville series in which the Cardinals stole a program-record 14 bases (on 14 attempts) against Joey Volini and various members of the FSU bullpen certainly serves as a nasty flashback.
Overall, FSU has allowed opposing teams to steal 69 bases on 89 attempts (77.5%). That's actually a marginally better caught-stealing percentage than FSU's on the basepaths this season. The Seminoles' offense has stolen 60 bases on 76 attempts (78.9%) entering this weekend's regional.
Jarrett credits some of those struggles with throwing out baserunners due to not being able to fully practice these situations as well during the course of a long season as they are during the preseason when practices can be longer and tougher.
"We absolutely work on it, and we haven't been great with it so we're trying," Jarrett said. "The ebbs and flows of what you deal with as a coach when you go through the season, you feel like you come out of the gates and you've got four or five good weeks of practice, and you're scrimmaging so everybody's involved, and there's so many reps, and there's so much going on, and you can throw the base runners out there, and you can create what you want.
"Then when you get into the season, the days of grinding through some practices and really doing some things that you might have done in the fall or the preseason, it's difficult. After our Tuesday night games, to roll out here on Wednesday afternoon before you fly out on Thursday, I'm conscious of what we're working on and how hard we push some of the guys. When you're working on this stuff on the mound, quite frankly, some of it has to do with throwing. You have to make some throws to do it."
In all honesty, FSU has been a bit better defensively against base-stealers down the stretch of the season. After that disastrous showing at Louisville, FSU has allowed 15 stolen bases on 22 attempts (68.1%) in the 13 games since, with only two games where opponents stole three or more bases.
Jarrett is hoping that some off time between games this week after a grueling regular-season schedule can help his team better prepare for this speed challenge that awaits this weekend in FSU's home regional.
"There was a good pocket this week where we could work on some things that have been on my mind..." Jarrett said. "There's things coaching-wise that you know we need to touch on and improve on, and I hope that this week provided a runway to be a little bit better at some of the things that we haven't maybe managed as well in the later part of the season."
