ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – The Rio Rancho Rams have known only one coach for it’s baseball team since the school opened in 1997.

Ron Murphy has brought the school three state titles since he started. The last title came in 2013. Now, the Rams will enter state tournament play Friday as the number one seed against A 16 in the Alamogordo Tigers.

The Rams are hosting at 7 p.m.

The timing of the tournament is good for the 21-5 Rams. They have won 11 of their last 12 games and just seem to be getting started.”I think the flavor of this team is that we never take a pitch off,” said Murphy. “We are intense with all pitches of every game, every play. We play hard on offense and defense.”

Early in the season, the Rams suffered one of their five losses in their own baseball invitational tournament. Rams outfielder Willie Baez said the slow start was due to errors. However, the Rams appear to have worked that out.

They also overcame adversity during the season. Long time assistant coach Ray Chavez lost his life due to an infection in his pancreas. The team continues to honor the memory of Chavez. They even marked a space in the school’s parking lot where Chavez use to park his car. They will be thinking about coach Chavez during the state tournament but, not that they have to win for him. The Rams said they will play like how coach wants them to play.