(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
After Arizona State’s baseball team sustained perhaps its worst season in program history in 2017, on Thursday Oct. 5 head coach Tracy Smith released its non-conference schedule for the upcoming season.
The announced schedule features 20 homes games, including four series against NCAA tournament teams from 2016.
A year ago, ASU took on then No. 1 TCU, Oklahoma State University, Long Beach State, and Cal State Fullerton and this year the Sun Devils will go through many top teams before entering conference play.
Per Pac-12 regulations, the Sun Devils season schedule cannot be released until December.
ASU will open its season with seven home games from Feb 16. – Feb. 25, with the season opener set for Feb. 16 against Miami of Ohio. 14 of the first 17 games will be played at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The series against Miami has a holds a little extra intrigue as Smith’s first time serving as a NCAA head coach was for the same Redhawks. Smith tenure lasted from 1997-2005, which included two NCAA Regional Appearances.
Smith ended up leaving Miami to take the same job at Indiana University before eventually being hired by ASU to lead the Sun Devil baseball program in 2015.
After finishing a 7-game home stretch with St. Mary’s, the Sun Devils will travel to match up with two 2017 NCAA tournament teams in the Long Beach State Dirtbags in a two-game mid-week series and then head to Cal State Fullerton for a weekend series.
Long Beach State advanced to the 2017 Super Regional before Cal State Fullerton beat the Dirtbags. Oklahoma State, who made it to a Regional before being eliminated last year, will square off against the Sun Devils from Mar. 2-4.
ASU swept the Dirtbags last year, the weekend that saw the breakout of senior Zach Cerbo, and in a mid-week contest lost to the Cowboys in a 18-4 rout.
On Mar. 6, the University of Pepperdine will come to Phoenix Muni for a mid-week game before UNC Wilmington makes the trek all the way from North Carolina in a weekend series from March 9 to 11.
The Sun Devils will return home from Pac-12 play before taking on 2017 College World Series Finalist Cal State Fullerton in a two-game series on Apr. 3-4. ASU was outscored 23-8 in two games this past March against the Titans.
As is customary, the Devils will compete against rival Arizona in a mid-week game that does not count for conference record. UNLV and New Mexico State will also be one-game contests.
The non-conference schedule will end after the University of Pacific plays a two-game series against the Sun Devils from May 13-14.
Last year, ASU jumped out to 15-10 record in non-conference play, before proving to be overmatched by many conference teams. ASU’s consecutive streak of 30-win seasons, dating back to 1963 ended in 2017.
Getting a better non-conference start will be crucial to a young, but talented team that is bringing in the No. 4 recruiting class in the country, according to Baseball America.
After finishing 2017 with a 23-32 record, ASU baseball looks to rebound in 2018 and will have a tough test early on against some of the country’s best teams.
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