Don’t sleep on Stanford baseball.

 

While the campus may just be starting to catch football fever thanks to Andrew Luck and company, every year there are several other sports that fly under the radar with only Al Davis’ famous mantra: just win, baby.

 

Just yesterday, I ran into a classmate who was lamenting the campus’s lack of attention to the mid-major college sports, like baseball. And although I disagree strongly that any sport here is “mid-major” and could spend thousands of words talking about any one of Stanford’s NCAA title contenders — with 101 national championships, the Farm has gotten used to winning a lot —  I’d like to turn today’s attention to the baseball diamond, where coach Mark Marquess’ team is turning heads with a collection of major-league talent that hasn’t been seen at the Sunken Diamond in several years.

 

There’s no need to bury the headline here — the Cardinal has likely the top pitcher in the collegiate ranks this season in junior Mark Appel and features a lineup built for scoring runs with two other likely first-round draft picks in classmates Kenny Diekroeger and Stephen Piscotty.

 

So in honor of that trio of preseason All-Americans — which is already earning points for No. 3 Stanford with the pollsters in Collegiate Baseball’s Preseason rankings — I have thought of three reasons why you should not sleep on Stanford baseball this season.

 

Reason No. 1: After shortstop Diekroeger and third baseman Piscotty, the lineup is looking pretty damn good.

 

Piscotty led the Cardinal with a .364 average and was an All-Pac-10 selection last season, while Diekoroeger hit .356 and was a Freshman All-American in 2010. But Stanford also boasts two more two-year returning starters in outfielders Jake Stewart and Tyler Gaffney and features three sophomores who started in 2011 — Brian Ragira, Austin Wilson and Lonnie Kauppila.

 

Short of preseason No. 1 Florida, Stanford ought to score runs in bigger bunches than any other team in the country. Last year, the Cardinal outscored its opponents 310-232 but is in prime position to push runners across the plate earlier and more often this spring.

 

Gaffney ended last season on a 22-game hit streak, Ragira was Pac-10 Freshman of the Year after hitting .329 with 46 RBIs, Wilson has about as high a ceiling as any outfielder Stanford has had in recent memory, Kauppila was an all-star in the NCAA Tournament — and that just begins to scratch the surface of what the Cardinal has to offer on offense.

 

Reason No. 2: There is no substitute for pure, cold heat.

 

What Appel has attached to his right shoulder is a rocket of an arm, routinely throwing 97-98 and touching 100 mph last season with an easy delivery that scouts drool over. He has three “plus” pitches, with a nice slider and changeup with good action to keep hitters guessing.

 

That’s major-league ace-type stuff. There are no questions about his character, and with an entire season as the marquee Friday-night starter under his belt, the Houston native is the “Appel” of many folks’ eyes.

 

Reason No. 3: The SEC is due to lose.

 

To put it lightly, I do not appreciate the way Southeastern Conference fans tout everything about their teams as unbeatable. Yes, I said it. The SEC has been home to the last three College World Series Champions — South Carolina in 2010 and 2011 and LSU in 2009 — and frankly, I don’t think anyone down South is ready for a four-peat.

 

Florida is an almost unanimous choice as the nation’s No. 1 so far this preseason, and they return most of their lineup from last season and will undoubtedly be quite good. South Carolina always finds a way to win and has two outstanding pitchers. And Arkansas seems to have put itself on the cusp of big things down in the swampland.

 

But something tells me Florida might be hit with an injury or two, and the Gamecocks have plenty of holes to fill on offense.

 

And sure, any of those pitfalls could await the Cardinal. Questions about the pitching staff behind Appel are certainly there, and there are few things more difficult than hitting a pitched baseball.

 

However, when all is said and done in June, I think Stanford will be back in the CWS for the first time since 2008 with some of the best talent the Farm has seen since Sam Fuld, Carlos Quentin and Jeremy Guthrie sat in the dugout at Sunken Diamond.

 

Don’t sleep on Stanford baseball.

 

Miles Bennett-Smith has clearly never been to Fayetteville, Ark. Tell him that the Ozark Mountains do not qualify as “swampland” at [email protected] and check him out on Twitter @smilesbsmith.