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2018 College Baseball World Series Odds: Samford vs. Florida St. Preview and Pick

Florida State, Seminoles, College World Series
Feb. 24, 2018; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Martin relieves pitcher Jonah Scolaro against Troy as the Seminoles stay undefeated on the year with a 6-5 winat Dick Howser Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Rondone/Tallahassee Democrat-USA TODAY NETWORK

After earning a top-eight national seed, the Florida State Seminoles baseball team will play at home through the super regionals in the 2018 College World Series. The top seed in the Tallahassee regional, the Seminoles will face the No. 4 seed Samford Bulldogs Friday at 7 p.m. EST at Dick Howser Stadium.

Florida State is 43-17 this season. The Seminoles are a strong 30-7 at home, while they have struggled a bit on the road, going 9-9. Thus, their home-field advantage is huge. Samford is 36-24 and has gone 13-9 on the road.

Game Odds

BetDSI Sportsbook has released odds, which you can view below, for this matchup.

Samford Bulldogs +260
Florida State Seminoles -380
Spread -3.5
Over/Under 9.5

Game Preview

Pundits expected Florida State would land a regional site and that expectation proved true. The others to do so: North Carolina, Clemson, and NC State.

The Seminoles came together and surged late in the season. Check out their full slate of games here. This marks the Seminoles’ 56th postseason appearance.

Check out the full Tallahassee regional bracket below.

Samford ended its season on a four-game winning streak and landed the No. 4 seed.

Prediction

The Bulldogs won the SoCon Tournament with back-to-back wins over Mercer (10-3 and 14-4) this past weekend. This may seem like a lopsided matchup, but there is quite a bit of parity in this bracket. It would not be shocking if a team other than FSU made a run.

Our pick, however, is the favorite: Florida State. The Seminoles are surging when it matters most, and they’ve taken on tests this season, and come out on the other side better, in the challenging Atlantic Coast Conference. FSU has won 11 of its past 12 matchups.

The winner of this regional will play the winner of the Clemson regional.

Cal Raleigh led Florida State this season with 54 RBIs. He added 13 home runs.

The Bulldogs will also attempt to slow down the powerful Jackson Lueck, who had 15 home runs and 45 RBIs.

For Samford, Anthony Mulrine had 68 hits and 47 RBIs. Brooks Carlson had 76 hits and 44 RBIs.

Florida State will look to continue its dominance across the NCAA sporting landscape with a College World Series run.

Written by Aaron Mansfield

Aaron Mansfield is a freelance sports writer. His work has appeared in Complex, USA Today and the New York Times. Mansfield is a PhD candidate at UMass Amherst.

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