ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – UNM Baseball came into the 2016 Mountain West Tournament as a two seed, receiving a first round bye playing their first game on Thursday. They will play number three Nevada at 7 p.m., but they will be playing on their home turf as this is the first time that UNM has hosted the Tournament since 2003.

“A lot of people are going to be here to watch them play. I am happy for it and there is nothing I can do now. It’s up to them, and I’m just going to make the lineup and watch them play,” said UNM Head Baseball Coach Ray Birmingham.

This year has had its ups for UNM, as they started out hot winning 20 of their first 28 regular season games, but things have cooled down towards the end of the season.

The Lobos finished 2^nd in the regular season with a 20-10 conference record, but similar to last season, just battling injuries.

“I think the only thing Jared (Holley) hasn’t injured while he has been a lobo his 4 years, is his left ear lobe, and that’s it. So, somebody has been hurt and things have got moved around, but they have done a good job of picking each other up and a great job of sticking together. Pushing the rock in the same direction,” said Birmingham.

Holley, DeVito, Stajduhar and Eaton are just some of the Lobos that have had to deal with injuries this season, but they are back in the lineup. They do not have some key veterans in the lineup, like Danny Collier and Victor Sanchez. Losing Sanchez hits this team hard, as he was their go to closer in the bullpen, and it is never good to lose pitching late in the season.

The Lobos may not be 100 percent healthy, but this team can grind.

“Obviously our goal is to go out and win every game. Get it done to make sure we punch our card automatically to get into a regional,” said 3^rd Baseman Carl Stajduhar.

They know how to win, and they have the skill to do so. UNM has MWC Player of The Year, Carl Stajduhar at 3^rd, 4 MWC First Team selections and a 2^nd Team selection. Plus it is a huge advantage playing on your home turf.

“It’s going to be good. We are going to have a nice atmosphere. Obviously hosting the tournament this year is going to be nice because nobody knows this field better than us,” said Stajduhar.

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