It certainly was a season to remember last year. The Bulldogs finally came home to Gonzaga, thanks to a beautiful new ballpark, and enjoyed a nice season in front of their fans after a long stay at Avista Stadium.
There were ups and downs, but the overall record paled in comparison to what being home meant to the program. In the end, they just missed out on an NCAA tournament bid, but that was no matter, as their small measure of success was just icing on the cake with all the emotion of their homecoming.
But now the honeymoon is over. It's time to get down to business.
All eyes are on this Bulldogs team and its ability to build on last year's surprise success. Honestly, it would have helped to have a worse record last year, because then all the focus would have been on their new stadium without a second thought to what the team can do on the field. But the Zags' talent was too big to ignore, and as a result of their achievements, the question for this season isn't whether the Bulldogs will be successful, but just how successful they will be.
Based on their performance last season, we know this team has what it takes. This was a Bulldogs team that beat Oregon State in a year in which the Beavers would go on to win their second of back-to-back national championships. This was a Bulldogs team that went on a 12-3 stretch to break open their season in March. This was a Bulldogs team that finished a surprising second in the WCC. In short flashes of brilliance, we saw a team that could compete with the big boys.
With those key wins, they exposed themselves as the winners they are, and now the fans want even more.
The road will be a little harder this season. With Clayton Mortensen on the verge of joining the St. Louis Cardinals roster, and with Darin Holcomb taking his power-hitting to the Colorado Rockies farm system, the Bulldogs look weaker than last year on paper, and have been picked by WCC coaches to finish fifth in the conference. But again, the events of last season only fuel the optimism for this season - the Zags were picked to finish fifth last year, too.
However, the team needs to want to thrive, and success needs to be demanded and expected by those involved in the program. Sure, it was nice playing on campus again rather than the remote, isolated locale of Avista Stadium, but it's time to let go of that frame of mind and focus on what this team can accomplish now.
The temptation for many would be to stick with low expectations - then there would be no risk of disappointment. Effortlessly we could sit there and not let the record of the team affect us; then regardless of whether the team wins or loses or whether they can overcome the loss of a few key players, we could just, as they say, take in a nice game of baseball.
But wouldn't it be more fun to expect this team to win?
Wouldn't that experience of being at a Gonzaga baseball game be so much better if we were emotionally invested in this talented team? Living and dying in every at-bat, hoping and expecting their success to continue - this team has the talent and ability to make these things happen.
This is an exciting year for Bulldogs baseball. With what this team is capable of doing on the field, success seems within its grasp, and now there will be plenty of real reasons for fans to "root, root, root for the home team."
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