After UNM lost nine of its last 10 games, head coach Ray Birmingham sounded off about the Lobos recent woes.
"It'll test you," he said.
But Birmingham was quick to downplay the team's struggles, choosing instead to focus on how he coaches his team through adversity.
"In my 30 years of coaching, I have seen teams start off in worse situations than us and have risen out of the ashes like the phoenix," he said. "Just last year, Oregon State was worse off than we are right now. I just keep telling these guys, 'It's not about now. It's about figuring it out and being hot in May.'"
Well, it's March, and the Lobos have responded valiantly, posting a 13-9 record and compiling wins against UNLV, NMSU, and TCU.
After losing two consecutive divisional games to conference foe UNLV, UNM caught fire with a win in the third game.
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Freshman catcher Rafael Neda helped ignite the resurgence.
Adding to an already robust batting résumé that includes a .361 average with 30 hits and 20 RBIs, Neda posted four RBIs off of three hits - two of which were home runs.
His efforts helped solidify a 12-3 UNM win.
After the game, Birmingham gleamed about Neda.
"Rafael Neda has shown tremendous maturity for being a freshman," he said. "He can play in the big leagues someday. Those kinds of athletes are the type of athletes we need to continue to recruit here at the University of New Mexico."
Hoping to build upon the win, the Lobos traveled down south to take on cross-state rival NMSU in the Rio Grande Rivalry.
Giving up a combined 12 hits and nine runs in the two games, the UNM bullpen displayed its capabilities.
The Lobos, with their brooms in hand, swept the two-game series, 12-3 and 8-6.
From there, the Lobos jetted down to Forth Worth, Texas, to take on TCU.
After surrendering the first game 10-2, the Lobos took control of the series and won the next two games 7-4 and 5-3.
Senior Matt Hibbitts went 3-of-4 from the plate. He also drove in four runs.
Hibbitts, a senior out of Mount Hood, Ore., was named preseason All-Conference this year.
Coming into the 2007-08 campaign, Hibbitts was riding a 13-game hitting streak, which he turned into a 20-game streak this season.
Batting .358 with 29 hits and 20 RBIs, Hibbitts has been a staple of consistency for the Lobos batting lineup.
"Last year, I wasn't much of a hitter," he said. "But I have worked hard in the offseason and taken advice from the coaching staff. They have definitely done a great job with not just me, but this entire team."
In the final leg of the series, Matt Moore teed-off with a grand slam that helped New Mexico defeat TCU 5-3.
The last time a Lobo hit a grand slam was in April 2007 when Moore recorded one against division opponent Air Force.
With the win, the Lobos (13-9) improved to 3-3 in the Mountain West Conference.
At four games above .500, Birmingham said his team is exactly where it needs to be.
"You can have a 40-win season and still not make the playoffs," he said. "Right now, we are 13-9 and 3-3 in the conference portion of our schedule. That's definitely a good sign. We just have to keep plugging away and working. Baseball is a game where you have to stay even-keel. You can't go up and down - emotional highs, emotional lows. Right now, we just have to play for May. That's our motto."
Baseball vs. New Mexico State
Tuesday, 6 p.m.
Isotopes Park
