A year ago, then-sophomore Andrew Schmid couldn’t be on the ISU Baseball Club.

This year, he’s heading into the off-season as one of the Cyclones’ top pitchers. The right-hander, who didn’t learn about the baseball team until it was too late last year, helped guide the Cyclones pitching staff with a number of solid performances.

“I had a couple of pretty good outings,” Schmid said. “I’m always upset when I walk people, but overall I think I did pretty well.”

Several of those outings came in a two-week stretch that saw Schmid earn complete game victories against Nebraska and Central Plains Conference champions South Dakota. In both games, the right-hander combined for 14 innings of work on the mound, allowing only two earned runs.

Club president and second baseman Bryan Scholar attributed much of the team’s success to the newcomer.

“Without Andrew, we probably lose, or at least don’t win, three or four games,” Scholar said. “Andrew was definitely one of the bright spots on our team.”

Iowa State (4-8, 4-9 overall) finished the season second to last in the conference, ahead of only Minnesota State University, but was forced out of action eight times because of snow, rain and cold weather.

Scholar said the 2008 team will open with the majority of the players returning, losing seniors Blake Wilken, Tyler Cook and Kyle Syfert to graduation. Nick Poduska plans to transfer, but Scholar remains confident in the players returning.

“We pretty much have the core of our team coming back,” he said. “We have a lot of potential for next year.”

When Schmid returns for his second go-around with the baseball team, he said he won’t let last year’s expectations affect his performance on the mound.

“We’ll have new guys coming in and I know I can pitch,” Schmid said. “I guess I’ll have to prove it to them too.”