ASU Baseball: Sun Devils headed to California for regionals

The Arizona State baseball team is headed back to the postseason for the 14th time since 2000. The Sun Devils will head to San Luis Obispo, California, to play in the Cal Poly regional, where they will meet Pepperdine on Friday.

The Sun Devils finished third in the Pac-12 with a 19-11 conference record, behind only Oregon State and Washington. The team won eight of its 10 conference series, which is the second-most in school history.  For the 52nd consecutive season, the Arizona State won at least 30 games, finishing with an overall record of 33-22.

Many believed that with the few number of Western teams hosting regionals, Arizona State would have to travel East for the postseason. Baseball America projected Arizona State to go play against LSU in Baton Rouge. Perfect Game projected the Sun Devils to go play in Nashville.

Instead, Arizona State will travel to California as they did last year where they were eventually eliminated by Cal State Fullerton. Their first matchup is against Pepperdine, who won the WCC regular season and conference tournament. The Waves went 39-16 this season and have a team ERA of 2.52.

The top seed in the regional is Cal Poly, who won the Big West championship with a conference record of 19-5. The Mustangs won 45 games this season, which is tied for second most in the nation.

Arizona State's postseason opener against Pepperdine is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT Friday afternoon and can be seen on ESPN3.