Two seasons ago — 12-9 and no Mid-America Regional bid. Last year, 15-6, still no bid. 

This season — 16-7 and Mid-American regional champions. The trend continues.

The ISU baseball club has made large strides in the past few years and it has finally paid dividends, with the team making its first National Club Baseball Association World Series appearance in its 14-year history. 

The improvements for the Cyclones during the struggling years have not come easily — in fact, it took a change in mentality. 

After a disappointing 2012 season, the team knew it had to take another direction if it wanted to be competitive. Then came leadership.

As players who were set on making the program more competitive took to the team’s leadership roles following the 2012 season, they immediately changed the team attitude from playing for fun to playing more competitively. And it worked. 

“We were still competitive [in 2012], but we just didn’t have the tools or the leader that we have today, no offense to those players, we just didn’t have it,” said senior outfielder Mitch Gerber. “This year, we really took off in the right direction and it has paid off in the long run.”

The team added more games to its schedule, held more structured practices and played tougher opponents. The competitive spirit showed in the Cyclones’ record as they improved from a non-regional team to an annual contender in the Mid-America region.

In the 2013 and 2014 season, Iowa State had a chance at an at-large bid, the last team to enter the Mid-America Regional tournament. Both times it failed to get the call.

This season, the call finally came and the team was as ready as ever.

“The motto that we had during the tournament was, why not? Why not us?” said infielder and pitcher Erik Rasmussen. “We kept saying that and really had nothing to lose and just played to have fun. It worked out better than we thought.”

The Cyclones entered as the No. 4 seed against the No. 10-ranked NCBA team, the Colorado State Rams. It became one of the toughest games on Iowa State’s schedule but the team wasn’t deterred as it pulled out a 4-2 victory to move on in the tournament.

But it sure wouldn’t get any easier. The next opponent was the Cyclones’ rivals on two fronts — Mid-America North Division rival and in-state rival — the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa State won the back-and-forth contest, 10-6, and moved on to the championship, where it would face, you guessed it, Iowa once again.

The Cyclones took the second round against the Hawkeyes in stride, beating the powerhouse and clinching the NCBA World Series.

“The [tournament] was the best moment I’ve ever had in baseball,” Gerber said. “It was an experience that I’ll never forget — an unbelievable experience. We played the best 21 innings of baseball all year at the right time.”

Iowa State sure won’t have an easy road ahead. 

The Cyclones will be the No. 8 seed out of eight in the tournament. That means it will be a long and grueling road ahead, but one the team is not unfamiliar with after an underdog run in the regional tournament. 

Going against one of the best teams in the NCBA in the past few years for the first game in the NCBA World Series, the East Carolina Pirates, will be a tough task, but one the players are ready to take on.

“Hopefully, we can jump on them early like we did on Colorado State,” said senior Kellon Ausdemore. “I have a really good feeling that we are going to beat them in the first round.”

The same confidence has invigorated the whole team.

“Why not us?” Rassmussen said.

The Cyclones will play the East Caroline Pirates on May 22 in Paducah, Kent.