Florida State Seminoles baseball

The Florida State Seminoles baseball team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of college baseball. Florida State competes in NCAA Division I, and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

The Florida State Seminoles are the second most successful NCAA Division I college baseball program in percentage of games won, with an all-time win percentage of .710, second behind Texas. The Seminoles rank sixth in all-time number of total wins and second in post-season wins. The Seminoles have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 60 times, advancing to the College World Series 24 times, and have appeared in the CWS Championship Game or Championship Series on three occasions (in 1970, 1986, and 1999). Florida State has won 11 regular-season conference championships and 20 conference tournament championships, including nine regular-season ACC championships and eight ACC tournament championships as well as eight division titles.

Florida State has had over 100 All-Americans and more than 50 players that went on to play Major League Baseball. Notable alumni include J.D. Drew, Terry Kennedy, Buster Posey, Dick Howser, and Mike Martin; the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award, presented annually to the top catcher in college baseball, is named for Florida State hall of famer, Posey, and Martin, a former player and head coach, is the winningest coach in the history of college baseball and has been elected into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Seminoles play their home games on campus at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium on the university's Tallahassee, Florida, campus and are coached by alumnus Link Jarrett.

Program history
Seminole baseball is one of the most successful collegiate baseball programs in the United States having been to 23 College World Series in 59 Tournament appearances, and having appeared in the national championship final on three occasions (falling to the USC Trojans in 1970, the Arizona Wildcats in 1986, and the Miami Hurricanes in 1999).

Since 1990, FSU has had more 50 win seasons, hosted more NCAA Tournaments, and finished in the top 10 more than any team in the nation. Since 2000, FSU has been one of the best programs in college baseball with more victories and a higher winning percentage in the regular season than any other school. FSU made the postseason 44 years in a row, tied for the longest streak in the history of college baseball. FSU also has two 60 win seasons and twenty-four 50 win seasons. FSU has hosted more Super Regional Tournaments than any team in the nation. In 2012, FSU passed Texas for the most all-time wins in regionals and super regionals. In 2014, FSU set the record for the most National Seed selections of all-time. In 2017, FSU defeated Cal-State Fullerton, in the 1,000th College World Series game. From 1948-2022, FSU completed seventy-five consecutive winning seasons, the longest streak in the sport’s history, and was the only college baseball team to have never had a losing record until the 2023 season.

Early history (1948–1980)
The first coach of the Florida State Seminoles was Charlie Armstrong, who spent four years with the program and compiled a record of 46–29.

Ralph Matherly became the second coach of the Seminoles. Matherly served as head coach for three years and compiled a record of 43–22–1. Danny Litwhiler was named as the third coach at Florida State. Litwhiler spent nine years coaching the Seminoles and compiled a record of 189–83. He is the second longest tenured coach in the history of the Florida State program.

The fourth coach of Florida State was Fred Hatfield. Hatfield was coach of the Seminoles for five years, and he compiled a record of 157–57–1.

Jack Stallings spent six years as head coach at Florida State. Stallings compiled a record of 248–107–3, making him the second winningest coach at the school.

As the sixth coach of the Seminoles, Woody Woodward led Florida State to an overall record 174–57 in his four years spent as head coach.

Dick Howser returned to his alma mater to serve as head coach of the Florida State Seminoles for one year and guided the team to a 43–17–1 record. Howser returned to Major League Baseball as manager of the New York Yankees, leading them to the 1980 ALCS.

Mike Martin, Sr. era (1980–2019)
Mike Martin was the coach of the Seminoles for 40 years after serving as an assistant for five years. He is the winningest coach in school history and his teams never won less than 40 games a season and reached the postseason in every year of his tenure, advancing to the world series on 17 occasions; in 2017, Martin won his 1900th game, becoming just the second coach in college baseball history to reach that milestone, in 2018, he become the winningest coach in college baseball, and in his final season, he became the first coach in history to win 2,000 games. During his tenure, he had 85 players drafted in the first ten rounds of the MLB Draft including 19 first round picks.

Mike Martin, Jr. era (2020–2022)
On June 21, 2019, Martin's son Mike Jr., a former player and assistant, was named head coach of the Seminoles. He guided Florida State to two appearances in the NCAA tournament during his tenure although the Seminoles were eliminated in the regionals on both occasions. On June 10, 2022, Martin was let go following three seasons, ending forty-three years of a Martin at the helm of the program.

Link Jarrett era (2023–present)
On June 24, 2022, Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett, a former player under Martin Sr., was named head coach of the Seminoles. In his first season, the Seminoles suffered their first losing season in program history and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1977. In his second year, he led the Seminoles to their second best start to a season in school history and a return to the tournament, with the Seminoles setting records in a super regional game for runs scored and margin of victory and advancing to their first world series appearance in five years, becoming the second Florida State head coach to both play and coach in the college world series.

Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium


Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium is the home of the Seminoles and is located in Tallahassee, Florida, on the campus of Florida State University. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the home field of the Florida State Seminoles baseball team. It opened in 1983 and after a two-year, $12 million project was completed in 2004 to make it one of the top collegiate baseball facilities in the United States, upgrading the stadium to a 6,700 capacity level. FSU's record crowd of 6,789 was set on April 19, 2008 with a defeat of then #1 Miami Hurricanes by a score of 9–5.

Head coaches

 * Records are through the 2024 season

*^4 wins were vacated due to the academic scandal in 2007.

Current coaching staff

 * Head coach: Link Jarrett
 * Assistant coach: Brad Vanderglas
 * Pitching coach: Micah Posey
 * Hitting coach/Recruiting coordinator: Ty Megahee

Animals of Section B
Before the home half of the 5th inning, a group of fans known as 'The Animals of Section B', lead the Seminoles crowd in singing the Canadian national anthem, O Canada. This tradition is claimed to have started on February 13, 1988, during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, when FSU was playing Grambling State University. During the bottom of the 5th inning, with the score tied 2–2, a member of The Animals began humming the Canadian anthem. As the Seminoles began to rally for more and more runs, more Animals joined in the humming and the team scored eight runs that inning. With baseball being a sport with a long history of superstition, The Animals have maintained the tradition ever since.

Sunday Golds
A tradition that began during the Mike Martin era, the Seminoles wear their gold uniforms for every game that they play on a Sunday.

Year-by-year results
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, C = Conference

*^4 total wins vacated due to the academic scandal

*^3 ACC wins vacated due to the academic scandal

Polls
Florida State been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Division I Final Poll 55 times.

Top-10 finishes are colored ██ 

All-time record vs. ACC teams
Florida State baseball maintains a winning record against all current ACC teams. *^3 ACC wins are vacated from 2007 due to the academic scandal

Florida State in the NCAA Tournament
Florida State has appeared in the NCAA tournament a total of 60 times, the second most appearances of any team in history. The Seminoles had 44 straight appearances from 1978 to 2022, tied for the longest streak in tournament history. The Seminoles have hosted regionals a nation-leading total of 36 times, including eight consecutive times from 2011–2018, have been selected as a national seed a total of 12 times , the most of any school, and have advanced to a super-regional a nation-leading total of 18 times , including six straight appearances from 2008–2013.


 * The NCAA Division I baseball tournament started in 1947.
 * The format of the tournament has changed through the years.

College World Series
Florida State has made twenty-four appearances in the College World Series, compiling a 32–48 record and advancing to the title game on three occasions.

National Championship appearances
Florida State has appeared in the College World Series National Championship game three times in 1970, 1986 and 1999.

National Awards

 * Johnny Bench Award – Buster Posey (2008), Matheu Nelson (2021)
 * Brooks Wallace Award – Buster Posey (2008)
 * America Baseball Coaches Association National Player of the Year – J. D. Drew (1997), Buster Posey (2008), James Ramsey (2012)
 * Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Year Award – Terry Kennedy (1977), Mike Fuentes (1981), Jeff Ledbetter (1982), Mike Loynd (1986), J. D. Drew (1997), Shane Robinson (2005), Tony Thomas, Jr. (2007), Buster Posey (2008)
 * National Rookie of the Year – Matt Diaz (1998), Blair Varnes (1999), Stephen Drew (2002), Sean Gilmartin (2009)
 * John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year – Mike McGee (2010)
 * Rawlings Gold Glove Award – Buster Posey (2008), Tyler Holt (2009), Sherman Johnson (2012)
 * Lowe's Senior CLASS Award – James Ramsey (2012)
 * Baseball America's National Coach of the Year – Mike Martin (2012, 2019)
 * Perfect Game/Rawlings National Coach of the Year - Mike Martin (2019)
 * Perfect Game Player of the Year: Matheu Nelson (2021)

Conference awards

 * ACC Player of the Year – J. D. Drew (1997), Marshall McDougall (1999), John-Ford Griffin (2001), Tony Thomas, Jr. (2007), Buster Posey (2008), James Ramsey (2012), D. J. Stewart (2014), Matheu Nelson (2021), James Tibbs (2024)
 * ACC Pitcher of the Year – Bryan Henry (2007), Parker Messick (2021)
 * ACC Freshman of the Year – Jonathan Johnson (1993), Stephen Drew (2002), Parker Messick (2021)
 * ACC Coach of the Year – Mike Martin (1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2009, 2012)

All-Americans

 * Luis Alicea
 * Jamie Arnold
 * Mike Augustine
 * Roger Bailey
 * Ryan Barthelemy
 * Robert Benincasa
 * Allen Bevis
 * Barry Blackwell
 * Guillermo Bonilla
 * Jayce Boyd
 * Dylan Busby
 * Jim Busby
 * Brian Busch
 * Stephen Cardullo
 * Kevin Cash
 * Ron Cash
 * Tyler Chambliss
 * Chris Chavez
 * Randy Choate
 * Bob Clem
 * Mike Compton
 * Tom Cook
 * Brian Cox
 * Wes Crawford
 * Daniel Davidson
 * Randy Davidson
 * Matt Diaz
 * J. D. Drew
 * Stephen Drew
 * Jack Dull
 * Matt Fairel
 * Frank Fazzini
 * Jaime Ferrer
 * Bien Figueroa
 * Gar Finnvold
 * J.C. Flowers
 * Mike Fuentes
 * Ed Fulton
 * Sean Gilmartin
 * Dick Gold
 * Richard Gonzalez
 * Brad Gregory
 * John-Ford Griffin
 * Pedro Grifol
 * Brett Groves
 * Johnny Grubb
 * Mark Hallberg
 * Bryan Henry
 * Daniel Hodges
 * Tyler Holt
 * Tyler Holton
 * Dick Howser
 * Bryce Hubbart
 * Link Jarrett
 * Jonathan Johnson
 * Terry Kennedy
 * Ricky Kimball
 * Jeff Ledbetter
 * Brandon Leibrandt
 * Richie Lewis
 * John LiBrandi
 * Doug Little
 * Mickey Lopez
 * Mike Loynd
 * Matt Lynch
 * Jim Lyttle
 * Ryne Malone
 * Mike Martin Jr.
 * Robby Martin
 * Tyler Martin
 * Eddy Martinez-Esteve
 * Blane McDonald
 * Jon McDonald
 * Marshall McDougall
 * Mike McGee
 * Drew Mendoza
 * Parker Messick
 * Doug Mientkiewicz
 * Scooby Morgan
 * Jeremy Morris
 * Mat Nelson
 * Dick Nichols
 * Danny O'Brien
 * Pat Osburn
 * Drew Parrish
 * Geoff Parker
 * Craig Patterson
 * Eduardo Pérez
 * Trent Peterson
 * Buster Posey
 * Jeff Probst
 * Cal Raleigh
 * James Ramsey
 * Ray Revak
 * Tony Richie
 * Chris Roberts
 * Shane Robinson
 * Marc Ronan
 * Jack Rye
 * Jeremy Salazar
 * John Sansone
 * Mark Sauls
 * Brian Schultz
 * Jonah Scolaro
 * Scott Sitz
 * Cam Smith
 * Chris Smith
 * Paul Sorrento
 * Gary Sprague
 * D.J. Stewart
 * Jason Stidham
 * Nick Stocks
 * Billy Strode
 * Ken Suarez
 * Stuart Tapley
 * Bud Teagle
 * Steve Tebbetts
 * Tony Thomas, Jr.
 * James Tibss, III
 * Devon Travis
 * Blair Varnes
 * C.J. Van Eyk
 * Taylor Walls
 * Jim Weaver
 * Luke Weaver
 * Conner Whittaker
 * Paul Wilson
 * Woody Woodward
 * David Yocum
 * Scott Zech

Hall of Fame inductees
Four FSU players and two coaches have been inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.