No. 3 Florida State (51-12, 22-2 ACC) vs. No. 11 Auburn (46-17, 18-12 SEC)
June 4-6, 1999
At Dick Howser Stadium, Tallahassee, FL

Series Information: FSU leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1954, 61-40. In their last meeting, the Seminoles defeated Auburn 16-10 in the championship game of the 1998 NCAA Atlantic II Regional in Tallahassee. In the 1997 East Regional in Tallahassee, FSU lost two of three to the Tigers with AU advancing to the CWS with a 5-2 win in the title game.

Scouting the Opponent: Auburn is led by catcher Casey Dunn, who is batting .383 with 16 home runs and 86 RBI. On the mound, the Tigers will start LHP Hayden Gliemmo (13-6, 4.63 ERA) on Friday, RHP Brent Schoening (13-1, 3.32 ERA) on Saturday and RHP Chris Bootcheck (8-6, 5.57 ERA) on Sunday, if necessary.

Radio: Sportsradio 1270 AM (WNLS). Play-by-play: Lee Bowen & Jim Crosby. Broadcasts will begin 15 minutes before game time. You can also access the games live on the internet at www.wnls.com.

Florida State Probable Starting Lineup

Pos.    No.   Player                 Yr. B/T ('99 Statistics)
 C      #25   Jeremiah Klosterman    Sr. S/R (.315, 5 HR, 52 RBI)
1B      #33   John Halliday          Jr. L/L (.299, 10 HR, 49 RBI)
    or  #27   Ryan Barthelemy        Fr. L/R (.314, 17 RBI, 15 R)
2B      #31   Marshall McDougall     Jr. R/R (.429, 25 HR, 96 RBI)
SS      #1    Brett Groves           So. R/R (.296,  56 R, 27 SB)
3B      #6    Kevin Cash             Jr. R/R (.321, 13 HR, 53 RBI)
CF      #15   Chris Smith            Fr. S/L (.274,  44 R, 23 RBI)
    or  #9    Karl Jernigan          So. S/R (.218,  5 HR, 42 R)
LF      #39   John-Ford Griffin      Fr. L/L (.426,  35 R, 35 RBI)
    or  #8    Mike Futrell           Fr. R/R (.385,  3 HR, 36 R)
RF      #32   Matt Diaz              So. R/R (.388, 16 HR, 81 RBI)
DH      #22   Sam Scott              Jr. L/R (.313,  9 HR, 36 RBI)
    or  #2    Chris Hart             Fr. S/R (.247,  2 HR, 19 RBI)

RHP     #30   Nick Stocks            So. (11-2, 3.15 ERA, 123 K, 108.2 IP)
RHP     #41   Jon McDonald           So. (9-2,  3.31 ERA, 109 K,  98.0 IP)
RHP     #21   Blair Varnes           Fr. (11-1, 3.84 ERA,  75 K, 103.0 IP)

Career/FSU Record:                1,073-362-3 (20th year)
ACC Record:                       139-51 (8th year)
Conference Championships:         13     (2 ACC ('95, '97),11 Metro ('80, '81, '83-'91)
NCAA Tournament Appearances       20
College World Series Appearances  10
50+ Win Seasons                   18

FSU Baseball by the Numbers

Poll After Poll After Poll
The Florida State baseball program has been ranked in Collegiate Baseball for 173 consecutive weeks, the most of any ACC school. The last time the Seminoles were not ranked in that publication was May 2, 1988.

FSU in the Rankings

Date        BA  CB  BW
Preseason   4   9   5
Feb.   8    1   2   -
Feb.  15    1   1   1
Feb.  22    1   1   1
March  1    1   1   1
March  8    2   2   1
March 15    1   1   1
March 22    1   1   1
March 29    1   1   1
April  5    1   1   1
April 12    1   1   1
April 19    1   2   1
April 26    5   4   5
May    3    5   4   5
May   10    5   4   5
May   17    3   2   3
May   24    5   3   4
May   31    5   3   --

Diaz Sets Career Appearance Marks
Senior lefthander Zach Diaz took the lead in career relief appearances with a scoreless inning of work against NC State (3/21) and moved into a tie for first in career appearances in his last outing against Providence (5/30). He now has 109 relief outings and 111 total appearances. Chris Chavez, who leads the team with 32 appearances this season, is also moving up those charts.

Florida State Career Relief Appearances

109  Zach Diaz       1996-present
 92  Ricky Kimball   1988-91
 83  Chris Chavez    1986-present
 75  Philip Olson    1993-95

113  Zach Diaz       1996-present
113  Ricky Kimball   1988-91
105  Chris Chavez    1996-present
 90  Doug Little     1983-86

Chavez Boasts Quite a "K"areer
Senior righthander Chris Chavez is now fourth on the Top 10 FSU Career Strikeout list. Chavez, who struck out a career-high 13 at Georgia Tech, currently has 380 strikeouts.

Florida State Career Strikeouts

520 Richie Lewis      1985-87
417 Mike Loynd        1983-86
391 Jonathan Johnson  1993-95
380 Chris Chavez      1996-present
370 Doug Little       1983-86
336 Larry Jones       1974-77

Florida State Starting Pitchers
Game-by-Game Starts

RHP JON McDONALD

Opponent       Result  IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO
UNC Asheville   W      6.0  2   0   0   0    9
Arizona State   ND     6.1  4   1   1   5   11
Troy State      W      5.0  4   1   1   1    5
Florida         ND     1.1  4   4   4   4    1
at Florida      ND     6.1  5   1   1   1    5
vs. Wichita St. L      6.1  8   6   4   2    9
Virginia        W      7.0  4   3   0   2    8
at NC State     W      6.0  9   4   3   3    4
North Carolina  W      6.1  6   6   2   4    9
Wake Forest    ND      3.1  1   3   3   4    6
Clemson         W      7.2  3   0   0   5   11
Miami           W      7.1  8   2   2   1    6
Miami          ND      2.2  7   7   7   4    2
Georgia Tech    L      8.0 11   3   3   2    8
Maryland        W      5.2  7   3   2   1    5
Maryland        W      8.0  4   1   1   3    5
Providence     ND      4.2  2   2   2   3    5

Opponent     Result   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO
UNC Asheville   W    6.0   3   2   1   2    5
Arizona State   ND   4.1   5   3   3   4    5
Troy State      W    6.0   5   2   2   0    8
Florida         W    6.1   6   3   3   3    8
at Florida      W    7.1   4   3   3   2    8
at Minnesota    W    7.0   5   2   1   3    7
Virginia        W    8.1   2   1   0   2   12
at NC State     W    8.0   5   0   0   3   12
North Carolina  ND   8.0   9   4   4   2   10
Wake Forest     W    8.0   4   3   3   2    7
Clemson         L    6.1   8   8   8   2    4
Miami           ND   6.2   7   2   1   1   11
Miami           ND   5.1   6   3   3   2    2
Maryland        W    4.0   4   2   2   2    2
Duke            W    5.1   4   1   0   2    7
Wake Forest     L    5.2   5   3   3   2    7
Jacksonville    W    6.0   3   2   2   4    8

Opponent      Result  IP   H   R   ER  BB   SO
UNC Asheville    W   6.0   4   1   1   0    4
Arizona State    ND  6.1   7   5   4   1    4
Troy State       W   5.0   1   0   0   0    3
Charleston So.   W   6.0   4   1   1   0    5
South Florida    W   6.2   4   2   2   0    8
vs. Wash. St.   ND   5.0   6   3   0   1    5
Virginia         W   6.0   5   1   1   0    5
at NC State      W   7.0   6   1   1   1    5
North Carolina   W   8.0   8   3   3   0    6
Wake Forest     ND   8.0   4   3   1   2    4
Clemson         ND   5.1   5   3   3   0    2
Miami           ND   0.2   6   6   6   2    1
Miami            L   5.1   6   5   5   3    8
Georgia Tech     W   6.1   8   4   4   3    3
Maryland        ND   3.0   6   4   4   2    1
Duke             W   6.0   6   3   2   1    3
Georgia Tech     W   6.1  11   3   3   0    1
The Citadel      W   6.0   7   6   3   0    7

Player          Opponent        Games Since
McDougall       Jacksonville    (5/29)    1
Cash            The Citadel     (5/28)    2
Scott           The Citadel     (5/28)    2
M. Diaz         The Citadel     (5/28)    2
Griffin         The Citadel     (5/28)    2
Barthelemy      Maryland        (5/9)    10
Halliday        Maryland        (5/8)    11
Jernigan        Maryland        (5/7)    12
Futrell         Georgia Tech    (5/1)    14
Klosterman      Georgia Tech    (5/1)    14
Hart            Jacksonville    (4/14)   22
Groves          Wake Forest     (4/2)    29
Smith           Troy State      (2/13)   55
Grand Slams:    McDougall 2     (1/30, 4/9)  Cash 1 (4/18)

Celebrating 20 Years of Success
Mike Martin is in his 20th season as the head coach of the Seminoles fresh off his 10th College World Series appearance. Martin, who is one of four Florida State coaches with 20 or more years of service, has brought the Seminoles to an NCAA Regional in each of his last 20 years. Under Martin, Florida State has become a national power in collegiate baseball, finishing in Baseball America's Top 10 in nine of the last 10 seasons.

A Look at the Martin Record

Florida State Miscellaneous Breakdown

ACC 24-4
Non-Conference            27-8
Vs. Ranked Teams         16-10
Vs. Unranked Teams        35-2
Home Games                35-4
Road Games                13-5
Neutral Games              3-3
Day Games                 31-6
Night Games               20-6
Vs. Right-Hand Starters  31-11
Vs. Left-Hand Starters    20-1
One-Run Decisions          4-7
Two-Run Decisions          4-1
Extra Innings              1-1
Shutouts                   2-1
FSU Scores Firsts         36-4
Opponent Scores First     14-8
Led After Seven           48-2
Trailed After Seven        1-8
Tied After Seven           1-2
Led After Eight           49-1
Trailed After Eight       1-10
Tied After Eight           1-1
Out-Hit Opponents         49-2
Out-Hit by Opponents      2-10
January                    3-0
February                  10-2
March                     17-1
April                      8-7
May                       13-2
Last 5 Games               3-2
Last 10 Games              8-2
Current Streak              W3

Hitting Streaks

              Current     Season    Career
Barthelemy      1            3        3
Cash            4            8        8
M. Diaz         1           14       15
Futrell         2            6        6
Griffin         9            9        9
Groves          6            6       15
Halliday        1            9        9
Hart            3            4        4
Huguet          2            2        2
Jernigan        0            4       12
Klosterman      1           20       20
McDougall       3           33       33
Scott           4            6        6
Smith           2            4        4
Spano           0            2        2

Seminole Multi-Hit/Multi-RBI Games

 
                 Multi-Hit   Multi-RBI
                     Games     Games
Ryan Barthelemy         5        5
Kevin Cash             20       16
Matt Diaz              32       23
Michael Futrell        12        3
John-Ford Griffin      11        5
Brett Groves           16        4
John Halliday          17       13
Chris Hart              1        4
J.C. Huguet             0        0
Karl Jernigan           6        5
Jeremiah Klosterman    16       18
Marshall McDougall     33       20
Sam Scott              11       11
Chris Smith             7        5
Bobby Spano             1        0

Noting the Seminoles

Team Notes

Season Honors & Awards

Chris Chavez        First Team All-ACC
                    ACC Pitcher of the Week (5/3)
                    NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team

Kevin Cash          Second Team All-ACC
                    NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team
                    NCAA Regional MVP

Matt Diaz           First Team All-ACC
                    Second Team Baseball Weekly All-American
                    College Baseball Insider All-American
                    ACC Player of the Week (2/15, 3/15, 4/5)
                    Hormel Foods Classic All-Tournament Team
                    GTE Academic All District III 1st Team
                    Third Team Collegiate Baseball All-American

Zach Diaz           GTE Academic All District III 2nd Team

John-Ford Griffin   ACC All-Tournament Team

Brett Groves        NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team

Jeremiah Klosterman Hormel Foods Classic All-Tournament Team
                    ACC Player of the Week (3/22)

Jon McDonald        Second Team All-ACC

Marshall McDougall  ACC Player of the Year
                    First Team All-ACC
                    Nat'l Player of the Week (5/10)
                    First Team Baseball Weekly All-American
                    College Baseball Insider All-American
                    College Baseball Insider Newcomer of the Year
                    ACC Player of the Week(2/22, 4/12, 5/10)
                    First Team Collegiate Baseball All-American
                    NCBWA/Dick Hower Player of the Year Finalist
                    Hormel Foods Classic MVP
                    Easton Silver Stick Award
                    (Highest batting avg. at the Hormel Classic)
                    NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team
Chris Smith         NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team

Nick Stocks         First Team All-ACC
                    Hormel Foods Classic All-Tournament Team
                    ACC Pitcher of the Week (3/22)
                    NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team
Head Coach          Mike Martin   ACC Coach of the Year

Playing the Best
Florida State has faced six ranked teams in the 1999 preseason polls and posted a 14-9 record in those games.

FSU              Opponents   Preseason/Current  Rankings
                   BA              BW             CB
Arizona State    12/NR            15/NR         NR/NR
Florida          10/NR             8/NR         14/NR
Wichita State     5/13              1/7          4/16
North Carolina   16/NR            25/24         23/28
Wake Forest       17/9            23/13         21/28
Clemson          15/17            16/NR         20/12
Miami              3/4              2/2           6/1
Georgia Tech      9/NR             7/NR          2/NR

If the Season ended today...

McDougall & Diaz Rank Among Nation's Best
2B Marshall McDougall and RF Matt Diaz are among the best in the ACC in several offensive categories. McDougall leads the conference in every major offensive category and is second nationally in hits and RBI, 10th in batting average and 11th in home runs. Diaz is in the conference's top five in batting average, home runs, RBI and hits.

Player    Category    Totals  ACC
McDougall   BA        .429     1
Diaz        BA        .388     3
McDougall   HR          25     1
Diaz        HR          16     5
McDougall   RBI         96     1
Diaz        RBI         81     3
McDougall   Hits       114     1
Diaz        Hits       102     3
McDougall   Runs        97     1
Diaz        Runs        72     6

FSU Pitching Staff Solid
The Seminole pitching staff is putting together one of its most impressive seasons as a unit in 1999. FSU's team ERA of 3.03 leads the county heading into NCAA Super Regional competition.

Pitcher Category    Totals  ACC
Chavez   ERA         2.39     3
McDonald ERA         3.31     6
Varnes   ERA         3.84    10
Stocks   ERA         3.15     5
Stocks   Wins        11-2     3
Varnes   Wins        11-1     3
McDonald Wins         9-2     7
Stocks   Strikeouts   123     3
McDonald Strikeouts   109     4
Chavez   Strikeouts    94     8
Chavez   SO/9 inn.   11.8     1
DiBlasi  Saves          9     1

FSU Newcomers Getting it Done at the Plate
Collectively, heading into the Super Regional, all Florida State newcomers (freshmen and junior transfers) are batting .343 with 295 RBI, 54 home runs and 328 runs scored. That means the group is responsible for 55 percent of FSU's RBI total, 57 percent of the home runs and 56 percent of the team's run production. John-Ford Griffin (OF), Marshall McDougall (2B), Ryan Barthelemy (1B), Mike Futrell (OF), John Halliday (1B), Sam Scott (IF), Chris Hart (C), Bobby Spano (IF), Chris Smith (OF) and J.C. Huguet (C) are all first-year contributors for Coach Martin.

Diaz, Varnes USA Baseball Invitees
Sophomore right fielder Matt Diaz and freshman RHP Blair Varnes were two of 33 players invited to the summer camp of the 1999 USA Baseball National Team. Camp is scheduled to begin June 8th at Hi Corbett Field, home of USA Baseball and spring training home of the Colorado Rockies. The National Team will play the Japan Collegiate All-Star Team from June 22-July 1, compete in a Western United States Tour and play in the NBC World Series in Wichita, KS (Aug. 6-17). FSU was one of only four schools to have two players invited.

McDougall a NCBWA/Howser POY Finalist
Marshall McDougall was named a finalist for the NCBWA/Dick Howser Trophy, released 5/31/99. The award, presented annually to America's outstanding baseball player, was established in memory of former Florida State All-American and major leaguer Dick Howser. The winner is announced in June at the College World Series. McDougall is one of four finalists from the Atlantic Region along with Miami's Bobby Hill, Wake Forest's John Palmieri and Coastal Carolina's Kevin Schnall.

Better Balance at the Plate in '99
This year's version of the Florida State baseball team has shown more balance than the teams of '97 & '98. Through 60 games this season, eight Seminoles (60+ AB) boast averages of .300 or better. The two teams before them both had just five players over the .300 mark. The '99 team has four players with double-digit home runs, while the '97 team had two (J.D. Drew & Jeremy Morris) and the '98 team had three (Brian Cox, Matt Diaz, Jeremy Salazar).

Where the '99 Pitching Staff Stacks Up Statistically
This year's pitching staff is regarded as one of the best in the Mike Martin era at FSU. Three FSU pitchers could have 10+ wins (Stocks 11, Varnes 11, McDonald 9). Only four other times since 1980 have three Seminole pitchers won 10 or more games ('82, '84, '85 & '93). The pitching staff also could become the fourth in the Martin era to have three pitchers record 100+ strikeouts in a season. McDonald (109), Stocks (123) & Chris Chavez (94) would join the '85, '87 & '97 staffs in that category.

ACC Player of the Year Marshall McDougall leads the conference in every major offensive category and is making a run at the ACC triple crown and national player of the year honors with a .429 batting average, 25 home runs, 96 RBI and 97 runs scored. The last player to lead the conference in batting avg., home runs and RBI was Maryland's Derek Hacopian in 1992. McDougall set three NCAA single game records at Maryland (5/9) with six home runs, 16 RBI and 25 total bases in the 26-2 win over the Terps. He had a hitting streak earlier this season of 33 games (one short of J.D. Drew's school record) that ended against Miami on April 17th.

Florida State Veterans vs. Auburn
Seven current Seminoles have faced Auburn in their FSU careers. RHP Chris Chavez and C Jeremiah Klosterman played against the Tigers in the 1997 post-season only, while 3B Kevin Cash, RF Matt Diaz, SS Brett Groves, CF Karl Jernigan and RHP Nick Stocks helped FSU defeat Auburn 16-10 in post-season play a year ago.

Batting
Cash (1 app)             .000  (0-3), 1 SO
M. Diaz (1 app)          .666  (4-6), 3 2B, 6 RBI, 1 R
Groves (1 app)           .400  (2-5), 1 2B, 2 R
Jernigan (1 app)         .500  (2-4),  2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Klosterman (2 app)       .166  (1-6),  1 R, 2 SO

Pitching
Chavez (1-0)          7.1 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 9 H, 5 BB, 3 SO
Stocks (1-0)          5.1 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 H, 6 BB, 6 SO

Groves' Batting Average Nears .300
Sophomore shortstop Brett Groves, who has been oustanding with the glove all year, has shown steady improvement with the bat as the season progresses. On March 20, Groves was batting just .209. He has upped his average 85 points to .296 following a solid performance at the NCAA Regional in Tallahassee in which he was named to the All-Tournament team. He is also FSU's top base stealer, with 27 thefts on the season (second in the ACC).