Last year, the Big 12 saw six of its programs invited to the NCAA Tournament, with two of them advancing to the Super Regionals. However, none of them reached the College World Series, the first time since 2013 that the Big 12 did not have representation at that level.
This year saw the loss of both Texas and Oklahoma, two of the conference's usual suspects in Omaha, but they added four new schools that included two historically strong programs, both from the Grand Canyon state. Arizona came in with four consecutive tourney invites and four College World Series appearances in the 2000's.
Then there was Arizona State. They had yet to get back to Omaha after going through a bit of a rebuild under head coach Willie Bloomquist, but the former Sun Devil player knew all too well the rich history of this program. Their five national championships rank fourth among all programs, and no school has put more players into the major leagues, with Bloomquist being one of them.
Still, it was fair to wonder how the Sun Devils might do in a Big 12 that boasted so many programs with more recent success than them. This weekend, we got our first look at that with a series against TCU.
The Horned Frogs have arguably been the conference's best baseball program in recent years, with six College World Series appearances in the last 15 years, Since 2004, TCU has missed the tournament just three times, and never in consecutive seasons.
After the first game of this series with Arizona State, it looked as if the Horned Frogs would be too much. The Sun Devils got gashed in the first inning and their offense could never get into a groove against the strong pitching of Tommy LaPour.
Arizona State bounced back the very next day, though. Their offense absolutely obliterated TCU, making up for the first game's lack of scoring, and put up 26 runs before it was all said and done. Arizona State had 10 runs after just two innings, which was more than the Horned Frogs managed the entire game.
Even better was the fact that the Sun Devils pitching staff held TCU scoreless for the first seven innings. Their bullpen has been shaky at times this year, but they brought their best stuff in this series-tying match.
Then came the winner-takes-all Game 3.
The closest you can get to a tournament vibe in March, Arizona State had a real chance to show what they're made of against a program that's so used to the tournament-level stakes. They did not disappoint, scoring runs in the inning following TCU runs twice and taking a 7-3 lead into the back half of the game.
Even with a two-run lead to start the ninth, they racked up five runs in the final frame to add some extra cushion, which proved to be too much for the Horned Frogs to overcome.
That's how they won their first ever Big 12 series: elite starting pitching and enough offense to put TCU in a hole too big to climb out of. That's the recipe for success against a program like the Horned Frogs. You can't play with your food or let them hang around too long; you have to bury them early.
Arizona State did just that, and they're now 2-1 in the conference despite having faced one of the Big 12's best. They'll need to keep that same killer mentality this weekend when they take on the Kansas Jayhawks, who currently lead the conference in wins.
Still, winning this series the way they did is a massive boon for Bloomquist's club as they try to contend in a wide open, yet very stacked, conference.