Three isn’t a crowd, but it is a goal for the baseball team.
The UNM baseball team has been to the NCAA tournament for the last two years, and this year senior pitcher Rudy Jaramillo said the team expects to make it to the tournament again.
“We have a lot of returners coming back and a lot of new guys coming in,” he said. “I think we’re ready to go out there and win in the regular season, win the Mountain West, and win another regional tournament. The ultimate goal for us is to go to Omaha.”
Last year, despite a regular season record of 16-39, the team won the MWC tournament and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Head coach Ray Birmingham said a tough regular season schedule is to thank for getting them into the tournament, which is why he scheduled tough teams again.
“All these teams that we’re playing this year are teams you have to beat to go to the tournament,” he said. “What I’m trying to do is build a program and every season we get better and better.”
One of the tough teams on the schedule is Arizona State University. They are the team Jaramillo said he is looking to beat when they come to town on April 9 and 10.
“They beat us in our season opener last year and in the regional tournament,” he said. “We want to go out and avenge those losses by getting two wins against them.”
But before the team thinks about the NCAA tournament, they have to worry about the MWC.
Jaramillo said Texas Christian University is the team to beat in the conference.
“We want to beat them and take the title away from them,” he said. “I think when it comes down to it, we’re ultimately the team to beat in the conference.”
Many players returned to the team this season, including third basemen D.J. Peterson, a pre-season All American. Senior second baseman Ben Woodchick said the shared experience will help them get to the NCAA tournament for the third year running.
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“We have a lot of new guys coming in, but we also have the same team as last year, so we have the experience that made the regional tournament last year,” he said.
