Rio Rancho baseball coach Ron Murphy is borrowing from the “Brian Smith Book of Coaching a 2007 State Champion” this spring.

Like Smith, whose cagers won the 5A blue trophy last winter, Murphy’s diamond dandies won the 5A baseball title two months later. The Rams won the District 1-5A title for the first time since 2001 and allowed only two runs through their three games at state and didn’t commit an error along the way, finishing with a record of 24-5, paving the way for a ranking of 32nd in the nation when Baseball America compiled its list of top prep teams last month.

“I’m excited — this team has a lot of confidence and they expect to win every game — and that’s a good thing,” Murphy said. “We’re not here to defend our state title this year; that was last year’s team. We’re trying to win a state championship. “To be honest, we’ve pretty much forgotten about last season,” he added. “It’s in the back of our minds; last year is really irrelevant to this year.”

Smith and Murphy deflected pressure for repeating in 2008 by saying they’re coaching different teams this time around.

True, Smith said goodbye to four key seniors — Lawrence Chavez, Matt Churchman, Daniel Steffensen and Noah Wolfe, while Murphy lost half of his starting rotation, Joey Garcia and Kyle Hammond, and a top-notch third baseman, Josh Cappello.

Just as replacing those key parts had Smith’s team struggling early, Murphy needs to find two strong arms on the mound and find someone capable of holding down the hot corner.

With a 3-0 start heading into Saturday’s home opener against Santa Fe, Murphy said a few questions were answered as the team won the Clovis tournament for the second year in a row: The Rams should be strong defensively and may be better at the plate than he thought.

“One of my major concerns, now that we’ve played a couple games, is the depth of our pitching staff,” Murphy, head coach for all 11 of the team’s existence.

“Last year we were pretty solid with Joey (4-1 pitching), Kyle (7-2 on the mound), Anthony (Haase, 5-0 and the Louisville Slugger and Baseball Coaches of America’s “Player of the Year” in the state) and Alex (Wehner, 6-0 as a soph). That’s four key starters. We lost half of that staff,” he said. “We struggled in Clovis n Alex and (Robert) Rodelo in the first inning; Hasase had no problems.

“We need to do a better job with our 2-3-4 guys,” Murphy said.

“I feel confident defensively — we had a couple mistakes in Clovis, but it was early (in the season),” he recalled. “Defense will be one of our strengths. And (outfielder) Josh Walker comes back, we’ll be stronger.”

Walker is a reserve on Smith’s varsity team this season, after arriving late to the baseball team last spring because of his involvement with hoops.

So far, Murphy said, “The biggest surprised has been Dominic Manno — he had a great tournament down in Clovis and batted .800.”

Manno has been playing right field; Walker may have to battle to reclaim that spot. When not pitching, Haase and Wehner have been stationed in the outfield.

As expected, sophomore catcher Chris Wallis, Murphy said, “is solid behind the plate — he started every game last season. And Michael Martinez is a great backup.”

The keystone combo is made up of shortstop Ethan Gill and second baseman David Waid; Cameron Fafard, who can also pitch, has been playing first base.

Varsity newcomer Bryer Mueller is the team’s designated hitter; he was with the junior varsity in 2007.

“I thought hitting might be our weakness this year but in the Clovis tourney, hitting was our strength. If we hit like that …,” his voice trailed off.

Murphy said his team faces a tough schedule, with perennial powers Eldorado and La Cueva visiting, not to mention what could be three tough games at the Las Cruces tournament — “We open up with Oñate,” he said — and three District 1-5A games against Cibola.

“Oh, man, we loaded it up even more than last year,” he said. “Santa Fe is tough this year — they beat Hobbs and Clovis.”

Who’s in the mix for this year’s blue trophy?

“Eldorado’s definitely one of the powers; La Cueva will always be there,” Murphy said. “Mayfield has seven returning starters there so Mayfield’s going to be a powerhouse. Oñate’s favored to be one of the top 10. Alamogordo’s got 10 seniors. Cibola has to be reckoned with. (And) Carlsbad — always the unknown, the question mark, because they play the Texas teams. I hear they’re young.”

Suffice it to say, Murphy, in his 11th season here, likes his squad.

“It’s just a team that jells a lot, not only on the field but off the field as well. That’s something you saw last year — they get along, pull for each other,” he said. “They’ll be successful — they really work together well and that goes a long way.

Dave Bency is the team’s pitching coach; Anthony Martinez will again be the bench coach; Adam Peterson is the varsity assistant. Richard Chavez coaches the junior varsity with help from Sean Jimenez; Leandro Lovato and Jim Tillery, with assistance from Dustin Field, will coach the freshman teams.

Extra innings: As strange as it sounds, Murphy won his 300th game in Clovis and is primed for his 200th win as the spring winds along. How’s that? The 300th victory was for his entire career, which included time spent at St. Pius X; he has 180-plus victories under his belt with the Rams. “It was nice having that 300th win with this team; I could reflect back on all the kids I’ve had at Rio Rancho.”

... Your next chance to see the Rams is Thursday morning at 8 when they face Roswell in a first-round game of the Sal Puentes-Alstate Steel Invitational. Other games Thursday are St. Pius-Santa Fe at 10:30; Manzano-Clovis at 1 and West Mesa-Farmington at 3:30.