'Pick your poison'

UNM head baseball coach Ray Birmingham has a memo for all collegiate pitchers: Consider walking these Lobos.

The Lobos are trying to create their own Death Row - and we're not talking about the record label.

"I want murderers' row," Birmingham told GoLobos.com, referring to the UNM's batting order.

The Lobos return three of their top hitters: Brian Cavazos-Galvez, Mike Brownstein and Kevin Atkinson. Brownstein will lead off this year.

"The seven-hole hitter is going to be just as good as the four-hole hitter," Birmingham said. "So, pick your poison."

UNM ranked first in the MWC in batting average (.343), slugging (.526) and on-base percentage (.409) last season. The Lobos were second with 191 RBIs during conference play, but Birmingham said that's not good enough.

"I think we left half of China on base," he said.

They will definitely need those bats to beat up balls this year, too.

The Lobos will face a slew of talent. SDSU's pitcher, Stephen Strasburg, was clocked in at 101 mph. And as always, the Lobos will have to contend with TCU, which has won three straight MWC regular-season and tournament crowns.

"We plan on beating them," Birmingham said. "We plan on beating everybody. Bring whoever you want. Bring the Yankees. We don't care. We'll play them."

Just one year removed from a 34-25 season that saw the Lobos one win away from capturing the conference tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA regionals, UNM isn't getting as much respect as some players feel the Lobos deserve - from the conference, at least. The Lobos were tabbed to finish third, a one-slot improvement from a year ago.

"We proved a lot last year, but we're going to prove a lot more," Cavazos-Galvez said. "San Diego State has that pitcher. They're going to, obviously, rank them ahead of us. TCU has the ninth-best recruiting class. It's just what people think will happen. We proved last year that's not what it is, and we're going to do it again."

But instead of fuming about where UNM was projected to finish, Birmingham jokes about it.

"This league's really tough," he said. "TCU's better than Texas - TCU's no slouch. San Diego State should be killing people. (Head coach Bill) Kinneberg at Utah is a great coach. BYU's got more money; they spare no expense. We're trying to raise money to get belts and socks."

And perhaps a trip to Omaha, to the College World Series, he said.

"This program is going to take off," he said. "The other day a guy said, 'Do you really believe that?' I wanted to put him in a headlock."

Cavazos-Galvez said that having lofty expectations is a change from last year.

He said some members of the team seemed flabbergasted to be in a position to make an NCAA regional appearance.

It showed.

In what was basically a three-game series, the Lobos were spotted a 1-0 lead against TCU. TCU had to make a pit stop in the losers' bracket, and after handling Utah, the Horned Frogs took the next two games from the Lobos to claim their fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

But now, Cavazos-Galvez said the MWC Tournament title game is somewhere the Lobos expect to be.

"We're at a different point than we were last year," he said. "We are more advanced. We have more depth this year. Now, we're a little bit more ready. Last year, we were disorganized and not quite sure (of ourselves)."

With a year of experience at the Division-I level under his belt after transferring from NMJC, Cavazos-Galvez said he has acclimated to big-time college baseball.

"I pretty much have gone through everything I could've - the real low lows and the real high highs," he said. "I've seen what happens and how to come out of them. I think I'll be more even on the streaks and slumps."

That's not good news for opponents.

For pitchers, striking the senior was a monumental task. He had only 10 strikeouts in 210 at bats and finished the '08 season with a 17-game hit streak intact.

Seemingly, the success of last year's campaign has cultured a confident, borderline cocky, attitude around Lobo camp.

That attitude is good, Birmingham said. Aside from great pitching, he said that's what the Lobos need to win.

"We're going to have some adversity," he said. "But winning is an attitude, and we got one."

That attitude was no more apparent than when Birmingham answered a question about the heat Strasburg's pitches are packing.

"You know what you do when you square up a ball going (101 mph) - where the ball goes?" Birmingham said. "Way far."

Baseball Home-Opener

vs. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi

Friday, 3 p.m.

Isotopes Park