DURHAM – It all looks so tidy now.

Duke’s baseball team had a down season last year and returned to the NCAA tournament this season, marked by Friday’s opener against UNC Wilmington in the Conway regional.

This makes it five of seven years the Blue Devils have been in the field of 64; a remarkable stretch for a program that went 55 years without a berth but is now enjoying sustained success under coach Chris Pollard.

That’s the simple way of putting it and it masks the behind-the-scenes struggle of getting one more bus trip together (at least).

“It’s been challenging, personally and professionally, and humbling,” Pollard said of the process from the end of last season to now. “Last year caused me to really reflect and see areas where I needed to learn and grow and adapt.”

Monday’s announcement that Duke is headed to Coastal Carolina for the NCAA baseball championship is the culmination of that reflection. It came into focus in Duke’s Champions Club inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the team watched the selection show and spoke with media afterward.

Pollard is quick to point out the three new assistant coaches — Brady Kirkpatrick (pitching), Ty Blankmeyer (recruiting coordinator) and Eric Tyler (hitting) — as catalysts for the turnaround of what is, so far, a 13-win improvement from last season’s 22-32 record.

Duke’s 2022 season could have become a roadblock to future success; instead, it’s been turned into a speedbump by the quick turnaround of this season.

It’s not the first time Pollard has had to conduct such an evaluation and overhaul in his coaching career.

“In 2004 when I got to Appalachian (State), in 2012 when I got here to Duke,” Pollard said, “and 2022, where you realize you don’t have it all figured out.

“And you know, I tell our guys a lot, ‘It’s not winning and losing, it’s winning and learning,” he continued. “We learned a lot from 2022 and we’re better because of it moving forward.”

This season has been something of a recalibration, made sturdy with 19 new players — 12 freshmen and seven transfers — and those three new assistant coaches.

“We’re a loose, really loose team. If you guys were in here, you know we like to mess around a lot,” catcher Alex Stone said after Duke’s selection to the Conway regional was announced Monday. “I think that’s super important, not getting too uptight whether you win or lose.”

It’s been a lot more winning that losing, though the Blue Devils hit a rough stretch in the last few weeks.

The split between April’s success and May’s struggles is stark. Duke went 15-3 in April, including winning two of three at Boston College and Virginia and sweeping Louisville in a three-game series. Throw in a couple of mid-week wins against a Campbell team that was ranked for most of the season, and it was a month that changed the trajectory of Duke’s season.

And then came the exam break.

Duke was off until May 7 and, after beating Longwood that day, has lost eight of its last 11 games. That cost the Blue Devils the ACC’s Coastal Division, falling behind Virginia and Miami.

Both losses in last week’s ACC Baseball Championship came by one-run margins and the hope — belief, it’ll have to be for those in the locker room — is the Blue Devils can swing those close games back in their favor.

“I think it’s just continue to play our game,” shortstop Alex Mooney said. “You know, sometimes the cookie doesn’t crumble in your way. You’ve just gotta continue to play the game and keep bringing energy to your teammates.

“It’s not like we’re out there getting beat by eight, so it’s nothing really to worry about.”

Duke played its game on the way down to Conway, too.

The Blue Devils play plenty of road trip games and the favorite seems to be “mafia.” To hear Mooney and Stone describe it, it’s a game of deception that can include as many or as few people as want to play on those charter buses.

“It’s a college baseball specialty, it’s like a bus game,” Mooney said. “We just play it for hours and hours. It’s fun, it’s good banter.”

Because the trajectory of Duke’s program shifted, the Blue Devils played it again this week.

And they’ll have more chances to play it down the road.