Arizona State baseball coach Tim Esmay doesn’t want to give the impression that he’s just happy to be playing in an NCAA regional.
“We’re in this thing to play well and move forward,” Esmay said Wednesday.
At the same time, the Sun Devils’ current predicament sure beats the tar out of last season’s predicament.
The Sun Devils were ruled ineligible for the 2012 NCAA tournament after the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee upheld penalties imposed the previous year. So ASU completed its season with a 2-1 series loss at Arizona – both losses came in walk-off fashion – and then watched in horror as the Wildcats marched through the postseason undefeated on their way to the NCAA title.
“It’s still tough to talk about it right now,” senior catcher Max Rossiter said by phone on Wednesday while washing down the bile with an In-N-Out burger in Thousand Oaks, Calif. “One walk-off loss is tough enough, but to have two and then have them go round by round to the national championship? That was torture.”
At least the Sun Devils can do something about it this season. The team boarded a bus on Wednesday, bound for the Fullerton Regional with the chance to compete for a national title again.
“I’ve never been through this before so the whole experience is new to me,” Rossiter said. “Watching the NCAA selection show and seeing our team picked was surreal. There are only 10 West Coast teams and four Pac-12 teams in the tournament so it feels pretty special to be in this spot.”
This specific feeling was why Rossiter chose to return for his senior season instead of turning pro after the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the 32nd round (976th overall) of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.
“Most of the guys that come here from juco ball play their junior year and then sign and go pro,” said Rossiter, who attended Gilbert Highland High before playing two seasons at Central Arizona College. “I had the offer and a decent round but I felt like the job wasn’t finished for me.”
And for the first time in Esmay’s four-year tenure following up Pat Murphy, the Sun Devils aren’t playing under a cloud of suspicion.
“Getting off the bus to go to practice tonight or is just a different feeling,” Esmay said. “The kids are different. They’re definitely excited, and yet they’re very focused. They seem to understand the enormity of the situation and the opportunity.”
ASU (35-20-1) won’t be the favorite this weekend, or however far it advances. No. 5 national seed Cal State Fullerton (48-8) owns that distinction this weekend. But the Sun Devils certainly have the confidence that they can play with the best.
They swept a pair of games from then-No. 2 Arkansas in late February and early March. They took two of three each from No. 8 seed Oregon and regional host UCLA. And they rallied to beat their first regional opponent, New Mexico, 4-3, on a walk-off single from Kasey Coffman in the bottom of the 11th inning on March 13.
“At the beginning of the season we were just playing games, trying to find out where we fit in the mix and not knowing what would matter,” Esmay said. “Now, everything matters. It may be that at-bat in the third inning or that key pitch in the first.
“We have to be excited about any opportunity we have to play team baseball and do what we can for good of the game. Every moment matters now.”
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