Sean Isabella

USA Today Network

Twenty nine years passed between Louisiana Tech's two most recent NCAA Tournament appearances.

The Bulldogs plan to make the next wait a relatively short one.

Tech put Conference USA on notice last month, indicating the Bulldogs' run through the league was more than a one-hit wonder. Now, the Bulldogs want everyone to know their run to the NCAA Tournament wasn't a fluke. The baseball program will back in an NCAA regional in 2017.

"I expect us to be exactly where we're at today. I expect us to build from this and know the feeling we have inside of ourselves from this last loss," Tech junior Jonathan Washam said after Sunday's loss to Mississippi State in the Starkville Regional final. "I expect us to carry that over to next year, and I expect us to go back to another regional, win it, go to a Super Regional, win it, and go to Omaha and win it."

Empty feeling hits Goff as Tech says goodbye to seniors

A run in 2017 was the expectation heading into the 2016 season. It came a year early as Tech went 42-20 and ended the 29-year postseason drought.

Sans 10 departing seniors, the majority of whom weren't everyday players, Tech returns the nucleus of the same team that knocked off 10 ranked teams and eliminated four-time national champion Cal State Fullerton over the weekend.

Tech came two wins away from advancing to this weekend's Super Regionals. Sunday's 4-0 loss to MSU was one Washam and his teammates don't want to experience again.

"Gonna remember this feeling and not gonna happen again next year," he said.

Of the nine starters who played a majority of the year, only Bryce Stark and Taylor Love are gone in the outfield. J.D. Perry, who earned all-tournament honors, is also a departing senior.

Tech's top seven hitters return who accounted for 74 percent of the Bulldogs' home runs and 64 percent of the RBIs.

Washam is one half of the Washam twins — his brother Jordan plays second base — who are coming back to lead one of Conference USA's top offenses. Leading run producer Chase Lunceford (11 home runs, 51 RBIs) is back at third base as is first baseman Cody Daigle (11 home runs, 42 RBIs), who ended the season on a tear with five home runs in his last eight games and leading hitter and outfielder Raphael Gladu (.339 average).

Miss. State ends La. Tech season

Catcher Brent Diaz also returns, as does outfielder Sean Ulrich, who spent most of the year as Tech's top hitter before injuring his shoulder and missing 18 games.

Casey Sutton, Tech's top pitcher and first-team C-USA selection, returns for his senior year. Cameron Linck, who baffled Fullerton with his stuff in Sunday's win, and Nate Harris, one of two top relievers for the Bulldogs, are back. Reliever Casey Sullivan and Graham Ahrlich and midweek starter Braden Bristo also return.

The losses of Friday night starter Tyler Clancy, who was injured for the second half of the year, and closer Adam Atkins hurt. Atkins had a 6-1 record with eight saves and a 1.20 ERA. The leadership from Love and Stark can't be replaced, either.

The talent is certainly there, though, especially with 10 more signees last fall and some new additions in the spring.

"I'm so thankful to be our head coach here. I thank the good Lord for what he's done for the program and the kids we've been able to bring in to the program," Tech coach Greg Goff said.

"I think hopefully, I told our administration this week, I think we're on to something. Hopefully we can continue to recruit and bring in the right people and get to these types of venues and continue to play in the postseason. Hopefully we start seeing if it can grow more than that."

La. Tech heads to regional final

The two wild cards in all of this are juniors Chandler Hall and Phillip Diehl. Hall and Diehl are expected to get drafted this weekend during the 2016 MLB Draft and could opt to leave early.

Diehl, who struck out nine in a 1-0 loss to Fullerton over the weekend, is a redshirt junior and has an extra year on most players coming out early. Hall, meanwhile, hit .271 with seven home runs, 38 RBIs and 21 stolen bases as the Bulldogs' everyday shortstop.

Tech's staff did additional recruiting in the spring to offset an potential early departures. If they return, it means Tech brings back its entire infield and three weekend starters from the second half of the year.