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Ken Jacome is in his fourth year at New Mexico, joining the staff in the summer of 2004. Jacome, who was the head coach at El Paso Community College for six seasons, primarily handles the Lobo pitching staff. Jacome guided his pitchers to a brillant season in 2007. The pitching staff had an ERA of 5.86, the lowest UNM has seen since 1996. Not too surprising since Jacome has placed a Lobo pitcher on the All-Mountain West Conference team in each of his three seasons - Danny Ray Herrera (2005, 2006) and Bobby LaFromboise (2007). In 2006, he guided Herrera to All-America status, marking just the second Lobo hurler in program history to earn that recognition. Herrera also was named Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year that season. In June 2006, two of Jacome's starting pitchers, Herrera and Nate Melek, were selected in the Major League Baseball draft. Jacome led the Tejanos at EPCC to three Western Junior College Athletic Conference titles (2001, 2002, 2004) and the 2002 NJCAA Region V Championship. He collected an impressive 207-122-2 record (.628) during his six years at the helm of the program, and was named the WJCAC Coach of the Year on four occasions (1999, 2001, 2003, 2004). Jacome also earned NJCAA Region V Coach of the Year honors in 2002. Prior to arriving at EPCC to become the head coach, Jacome was a volunteer assistant at the University of Arizona in 1997 and 1998. Jacome's first coaching experience came at Pueblo High School in Tucson, Ariz., where he was the head coach in 1995 and 1996. He was also the pitching coach for the USA Junior National Team that won the silver medal in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada in 2002. The team consisted of seven future first-round picks in the Major League Draft - Delmon Young (1st, 2003), Chris Lubanski (5th, 2003), Ian Stewart (10th, 2003), Lastings Milledge (12th, 2003), Jeff Allison (16th, 2003), Chad Billingsley (24th, 2003), and Ian Kennedy (21st, 2006). Jacome graduated from Oklahoma City University in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education after playing two years of baseball for the Stars. Jacome, a pitcher, played baseball his freshman season at New Mexico State and his sophomore season at Scottsdale Community College. He received his master's degree in Education from Northern Arizona University in 1997. Jacome, 40, and his wife Elizabeth, have three children, Jacob, 8, Isabella, 6, and Alexandra, 1. |
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