Arizona State baseball to learn postseason fate at NCAA selection show

The Arizona State baseball team is very likely headed to the postseason for the second time in the five-year tenure of coach Willie Bloomquist. The Sun Devils (37-19) find out their assigned regional at 9 a.m. MST on ESPN2 Monday, May 25.

Regional play begins Friday, May 29, with the first game of the double-elimination event and a berth in a super regional at stake.

ASU is coming off a regular season in which it finished third in the Big 12, one spot higher than it was projected in the preseason poll. The Sun Devils lost the semifinal of the conference tournament to second-seeded West Virginia.

The Sun Devils have boasted a strong one-two punch on the mound in senior right-hander Kole Klecker (6-2, 5.16) and junior left-hander Cole Carlon (5-2, 3.51). The bat brigade is led by sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston (.413, 79 RBIs), whose 28 home runs have set a single-season school record. Junior infielder Dominic Smaldino (.332, 16 homers, 49 RBIs) and senior second baseman Nu'u Contrades (.373, 17 homers, 53 RBIs) have also been hot lately.

The Sun Devils are looking to fare better than they did a year ago in their first postseason appearance of Bloomquist's tenure. ASU competed in the Los Angeles Regional and won their opening game over UC Irvine, 4-2, but lost the second game to host UCLA, 11-5. The Sun Devils were then eliminated by UC Irvine, 11-6.

The 16 regional hosts are UCLA, Georgia Tech, Georgia, North Carolina, Auburn, Texas, Florida, Florida State, West Virginia, Southern Mississippi, Texas A&M, Alabama, Kansas, Oregon, Nebraska and Mississippi State.

The winner of each regional advances to a super regional, whittling the field of national title hopefuls down to 16. The eight super regional sites will feature two teams in a best-of-three series, with those survivors advancing to the College World Series.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU baseball learns postseason fate during selection show