Tech's ACC home opener features No. 1 Florida State

This will be the seventh time the Hokies have hosted a No. 1 team in Blacksburg

March 16, 2017

The weekend series: Tech welcomes Florida State to English Field at Union Park for the first time since 2013 and will host a top-ranked team - the Seminoles were ranked No. 1 by D1Baseball.com entering the week - for the first time since 2015. The teams are currently scheduled to play single games Friday, Saturday and Sunday with each first pitch slated for 1 p.m.
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WEEKEND SERIES INFORMATION
Virginia Tech vs. Florida State
March 17-19, 2017
English Field at Union Park
Blacksburg, Virginia

Gameday Information
Friday, March 17 - 1 p.m.
AUDIO
LIVE STATS

Saturday, March 18 - 1 p.m.
AUDIO
LIVE STATS

Sunday, March 19 - 1 p.m.
AUDIO
VIDEO
LIVE STATS

Facing the Seminoles: All-time, the Hokies are 12-43 against Florida State and are 4-10 record in Blacksburg. Since 2013, Tech holds a 4-3 mark and beat the Seminoles in their last series at English Field. Since joining the ACC, the Hokies have won at least one game in each home series except 2008.

Hosting a top-ranked team: Since the Hokies joined the ACC, they have played six series at English Field against a No. 1 team. Overall, Tech is 5-12 in such games, but swept No. 1 Virginia in 2015 - the last time a top-ranked team visited Blacksburg. The other top-ranked teams to visit Blacksburg were UNC (2013, 0-3), Virginia (2011, 0-3), UNC (2009-, 0-2) and Miami (2008, 1-2). Ironically, the first No. 1 ACC school to play in Blacksburg was Florida State in 2006. The series was played exactly 11 years ago (March 17-19) with the Seminoles taking two of three.

Tech in ACC home-opening weekends: Tech opens up its home ACC slate with the Seminoles and are riding a three-game winning streak in its ACC home opener - after losing its first nine from 2005-13. In 2014, the Hokies beat Pitt, 11-5, followed that with a 6-5 win over No. 1 Virginia in 2015 and last year beat No. 5 Miami, 14-3. When it comes to the overall weekend though, the Hokies are just 3-9, sweeping both Pitt (2014) and Virginia (2015), while their first ACC home-opening series win was 2-1 over Maryland (2010). Overall, they are 12-21 overall in their first home weekend.

Hokies tied for lead in nation in home runs: The Hokies have hit 33 home runs so far in 2017 with nine players contributing to the effort. That puts them in a tie for first in the country with fellow ACC member Wake Forest. The next closest team is Mercer at 31 and Austin Peay with 30. Last season, Tech did not hit its 33rd home run until May 20 and finished with 34 overall as a total of 12 players accounted for at least one. The previous season, as a team, the Hokies hit 35 in 2015, while hitting just 12 in 2014. Since the Hokies have been a member of the ACC (since 2005), Tech has surpassed 40 home runs hit in a season five times, which was done consecutively from 2008-2013, with the high-water mark being the 81 hit during the 2010 season.

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