ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Close simply did not cut it for the University of New Mexico baseball team.
Yes, the Lobos came close in 2015, falling a couple of timely hits short of victory in the Mountain West tournament championship game. That would have been enough to propel UNM to an NCAA Regional berth and pushed its streak of winning conference titles (regular-season or MWC tournament) to five straight years.
It didn’t happen. San Diego State held on for a 6-4 win in the tournament finale and the Lobos finished with a less-than-satisfying 32-27 record.
“Last year left kind of a bad taste,” sophomore third baseman Carl Stajduhar said.