New Mexico State interim baseball coach Keith Zuniga leads Aggies into WAC play

LAS CRUCES - Keith Zuniga didn't expect his first crack at running a baseball team to be under these circumstances.

When New Mexico State parted ways with baseball coach Mike Kirby last week, NM State Director of Athletics Mario Moccia named Zuniga the interim coach for the remainder of the season.

"I wouldn't have had the opportunity to be at New Mexico State if not for Coach Kirby," Zuniga said. "The fact is that he let me use my voice and lead my group of guys and take charge of recruiting. This is an opportunity, but nobody hopes to become a head coach in a way like this, but it's opportunity for us to get back on track and there are a lot of games left."

New Mexico State fires baseball coach Mike Kirby

Zuniga is in his third season at NM State and has been the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. Due to an increased role, Zuniga will sign a new contract that will increase his salary from $65,000 to $100,000, but the contract will still expire at the end of June.

"We are all going through this together and all going through this with mixed emotions," Zuniga said. "Regardless of if we recruited them here or not, we are all one. A lot of use care deeply about Coach Kirby and when stuff happens, it wasn't an easy day, but it has been somewhat of a reset button."

Zuniga met with the team when Kirby was removed last week and coached the Aggies over the weekend, where they lost three games to Pacific at home to fall to 0-10 on the season.

"With the amount of talent in the clubhouse and the rich tradition here, even when we started 0-3, nobody likes the feeling of that," Zuniga said. "There was definitely something in the air and we are trying to figure this thing out.

"There won't be any drastic changes, we have just been out of character. It's just a matter of playing our brand of baseball that I know we can play and make sure we go up to the plate and put runs on the board. ... We have the right personnel and the right pieces."

Zuniga said he will manage from the dugout and continue to manage the pitching staff. Assistant coach Brandon Van Horn will coach the offense from third base and assistant coach Joey Cooper will coach at first base.

The Aggies open Western Athletic Conference at Grand Canyon in a three-game series this weekend.

"The biggest message to the boys is we are still here with me and the rest of the staff and we are going to give everything for them to perform and compete to the best of their ability," Zuniga said. "We want them to get that mentality so they can play free and get back to playing baseball."

Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico State interim baseball coach Keith Zuniga leads Aggies into WAC play