The past three seasons of Arizona State baseball have not come close to living up to the historical standards of the program, something its staunch fans and followers need not be reminded.

Sure, a berth to the 2019 NCAA tournament was a nice step in the right direction, but it seemed the only way to go was up after the Sun Devils turned in their second and third losing seasons in their 60-year history in 2017, then 2018.

This season has the potential to be different though, as ASU has been ranked No. 3 in Baseball America’s preseason rankings. Head coach Tracy Smith admitted it’s nice to get some acknowledgment, but added that things are finally starting to go as he envisioned when he was hired years ago.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I love the fact that guys are being recognized,” Smith said. “We haven’t had a lot of that around here yet, so it’s good for that. But other than that, put it in the closet and go play. The business plan, if you will, that we laid out years ago talked about exactly that—being in the conversation for a national championship, that’s the whole focus of our tenants of champs, the first one is a conversation.

“So, we talked about this with the team, if you’re being ranked, which is nice and all those things, ok, you’re in the conversation. That’s good, we’re getting there. But it doesn’t mean anything, so our attention and focus as a coaching staff needs to make sure we understand that, and the leaders and veterans of our team need to understand that.”

Of course, talk is cheap, but by the sounds of its ASU’s core leaders not only understand this but have internalized their vision of going to Omaha as one of the eight programs in the College World Series. In fact, it seems pretty clear that with so many upperclassmen and such a reinvigorated pitching staff, nothing short of this goal will be an acceptable end result for the season according to key leaders on the team.

“You look around from top to bottom, our lineup, our pitching staff this year, this is going to be a big year for us,” junior infielder Alika Williams said. “It’s a good group of guys, and I think we got a good shot at doing something special.

“We’re going to go out there, get to Omaha and win a national championship, that’s the goal. I think pretty much everyone’s on board with that.”

ASU has not earned a trip to the famed college baseball town in a decade, failing to get that far in any of the six NCAA tournament appearances they’ve made in that timespan. The Sun Devils last made a national championship in 1998, and last won it all in 1981.

“Every year I think everyone’s expecting each of us to get better,” junior infielder Gage Workman said. “So, we’re all hoping to go further each and every year…I think all of us kind of know what we expect this year, so we know we want to go far.”

As exciting as the preseason predictions from experts that imply these goals are well within reach may be, the players also demonstrated an understanding of the proper mindset to go about business when surrounded by such lofty outside expectations.

“No, not at all,” Workman answered about if the high preseason rankings mean anything. “It doesn’t matter. If we go out and lose our first series, those rankings mean nothing, and if we go out and win our first 30 games—it’s just about the end goal for us.”

Workman makes an interesting reference here citing specifically the “first 30 games,” as ASU had one of, if not the best records in division one baseball during 2019 through 26 games. At the time, their 25-1 record had them ranked as high as No. 5 in some polls.

However, a mid-week loss in game number 27 last season—which followed a three-game sweep of archrival Arizona at home—started ASU on what would become a fall-off that saw the team finish the remaining games of the season 13-17, struggling to sweep any remaining series throughout the season regardless of the opponent’s record.

Junior outfielder Trevor Hauver alluded to this specific game and believes given the hindsight of how things played out, there was a valuable lesson for the team to have learned from that whole experience.

“I think last year, there was a point in time where we were winning so much,” Hauver explained, “that, for example, that Long Beach (State) game. I think we were 25-1 at the time, they came in 3-23, I think we just came in thinking that we were just going to roll over them, just beat them.

“Then, they have a pitcher that was pretty good that game. I believe anyone can beat anyone on any given day, so I think we got to come out every game like it’s our last, and play like it. If we do that, we can beat anyone.”

This is certainly one of those things that’s extremely hard to put into action regardless of how many times you learn that lesson. But ASU’s shattering finish to the 2019 season, in which the team blew a 12-6 eighth-inning lead and a 12-9 final-inning lead to get walked-off on by Southern Miss 13-12, certainly adds an extra fire to take to the field in 2020.

“I think that kind of left a bad taste in our mouth, that was not how we pictured it ending,” Workman said. “I think we have a chance to go further than that for sure.”

Hauver expressed similar feelings, also revealing how strongly guys felt like getting back on the field right away to avenge such a disappointing end to the season.

“I believe we could’ve went farther than we did, obviously, with the players we had,” Hauver said. “After the season ended last year, we were hungry, we wanted to get back out there and play right away. So, I think building over the summer and the fall, I think that you can tell that we’re ready to get going again.”

Now, the Sun Devils have just under three more weeks to prepare for opening day, when they will get their first opportunity to use all the lessons learned and offseason work, they’ve put in to show the college baseball world they can justify the accolades.