After a disappointing 2004 campaign, Sacramento State baseball is just days away from showing off their refurbished and reinvigorated lineup.

Though last season ended in bitter fashion, with the team going through patches where they would lose miserably to lesser clubs, there was still a silver lining to the ever-gray clouds that hovered over Hornet Field on a daily basis.

The Hornets, playing most of the 2004 season without their best players, knew if they could finish the season 29-32 minus some key players, there was a chance they’d be a good team in 2005 when they have all their players back in tip-top shape.

John Smith, coming into his 27th season as head coach of the Hornets, presents an optimistic attitude when talking about his team’s mediocre play of last season and what he hopes to be a progressive and fruitful 2005 season.

“Last year’s team was one of our better clubs,” Smith said. “The injury bug really hit us hard last year, though, when we just lost player after player.

“On paper, these guys were good, but then we lost four pitchers to injury problems and could never quite gain any momentum as the season went on; I’ll tell you what, those guys out there played positions they had never played before because of the injuries to our other guys. They played hard for us every day and I was proud of that.”

With a group of core veterans coming back, including senior pitcher Ethan Katz as well as senior infielder Brett Flowers, the 2005 team is shaping up to be comparable to the 2004 team, if not better.

“We expect to be as good as last year’s club, and we have a chance to surpass what we did in 2004, too,” Smith said. “We have 13 seniors coming back to us and we have a great pitching staff again.

“Everybody’s fired up for the 2005 season, even me.”

The anchor of the pitching staff Smith speaks so highly of will be Katz, the right-hander who beat then- No.2 Stanford last year with a complete-game, two-hitter.

“Oh yeah, Katz will be our guy,” Smith said.

The Hornets open the season at home on Friday against Washington State; the game starts at 2 p.m. and will be played at Hornet Field.

When the Hornets debut their fresh faces and healthy veterans on Friday it will be the first time in years they will be doing so without some of the veteran players that put them on the NCAA baseball map.

Craig Johnson and Bret LeVier, both deciding to forego their senior seasons at Sac State, signed contracts with Major League Baseball teams in June of last year. Johnson was drafted by the San Diego Padres and LeVier was signed to a rookie contract by the Boston Red Sox.

Also signing Major League contracts were John Acha and Jack Arroyo, with Acha signing with the San Francisco Giants and Arroyo with the Seattle Mariners.

Even without those familiar faces coming back this year, the Hornets are looking good for their much anticipated 2005 campaign.

“We’ll miss those guys dearly, but we’ll have our air-tight defense and power hitting again this year,” Smith said. “I’ll take that any day.”