Baseball season officially begins Friday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium when ASU takes on Xavier University at 6:30 p.m.
With speculation focused on the preseason rankings, a loss of key starters in the outfield and the concern for a lack of depth on the roster, the Sun Devils are eager to prove everyone wrong.
The Sun Devils' Pac-12 ranking of eighth place is an unusual spot for the historic program, but the experienced players, like junior shortstop Colby Woodmansee, said the young guys have the potential to make an impact and don’t doubt the talent of this team.
“I think we’re definitely going to prove them wrong when they actually see these young guys that are quality players and that are going to contribute a lot to us,” he said. “I think their minds will change once the season rolls around.”
ASU head coach Tracy Smith said the Sun Devils are taking each series as it comes, and haven’t looked too far past this weekend’s matchup.
“(Xavier) is a fun one for me because one of my former assistants, Scott Googins, is the head coach at Xavier, and I know he’ll have those guys ready to play,” Smith said.
Googins was Smith’s assistant while at Miami of Ohio from 2001-2004. The two had also previously worked together as assistants while at Indiana from 1995-1996.
Googins said playing this series against his friend and former colleague is exciting.
“Going against Coach Smith, who is one of my mentors, it’s special,” he said. “To watch what he does, and again I still learn from him, it’s good playing against him.”
Smith has taught Googins how to treat people beyond the baseball field and create an environment for players to develop and be great, but still give the athletes a good college experience, Googins said.
“Here at Arizona State, he gets really good players, but he makes them better because of his coaching and his development, that’s probably a lot of what I’ve taken from him,” Googins said.
Xavier will be coming into this weekend’s series after a disappointing 2015 season (15-38).
Googins said he sees not being outside for practices as the biggest challenge for Xavier as they take on ASU, but that he plans to use the time to further develop and figure out his team on the field.
Tomorrow’s game will also be a time for ASU to figure out its team as it's finally able to come together in one dugout against one opponent, Smith said.
As for the focus of the team, Woodmansee said the Sun Devils are focused on winning every series and showing fans what they are capable of.
“If we win every series we have a pretty good shot, whether it’s winning the Pac or putting yourself in a good spot, and whether it’s hosting a regional or hosting a super regional, it puts you in a better spot to get to Omaha,” he said.
Reach the reporter at haley.stesiak@asu.edu or follow @haley_stesiak on Twitter.
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