Estancia’s Jake Covey signs with New Mexico State baseball

Estancia High senior Jake Covey signed with the New Mexico State baseball program on Thursday.

One of the most recognizable faces on campus, Covey was a four-year varsity letterman in both baseball and basketball.

Covey said he was “super pumped up,” but also relieved to finally have the recruiting process completed.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound right-handed pitcher said that Mike Cosgrove, his coach in travel ball with the SoCal Birds, introduced him to an interested member of the New Mexico State program.

In closing the deal, Covey said that the most important thing to him was that it would be an enjoyable team atmosphere. There would be no issues in enjoying the game itself.

“I wanted to make sure that I would enjoy the team and enjoy the culture,” Covey said. “I love baseball, and I’m going to enjoy that every time, and I’m always going to be giving it my best, but the only thing that could really kill a place for me is if I just hated the team.

“I talked to some of the players about the coaches and their schedule, and I talked with the coaches about the team … I guess we just got all the right answers.”

Covey said he is going to try to go as far as he can in baseball. His backup plan is also an ambitious one. He said he plans to study biology, and if baseball does not pan out, he wants to go to medical school with the goal of becoming a trauma surgeon.

“My parents, we’ve talked a lot about kind of the backup [plan], and through Estancia’s medical pathway, I really found that I love that, too,” Covey said.

In calling up his favorite high school memories, Covey was able to cut the list down to a top two.

For basketball, he looked at his senior season. He was named a Daily Pilot Boys’ Basketball Dream Team selection after leading the Eagles to an undefeated Orange Coast League title and a trip to the CIF Southern Section Division 5AA quarterfinals. Covey was also named to the South roster for the Orange County All-Star basketball game.

The baseball memory went back to his sophomore year, when he started a second-place tiebreaker game against rival Costa Mesa in the Battle for the Bell. Not only did Estancia clinch second place with a 7-4 victory, but it also claimed the All-Sports Cup by virtue of the victory.

In his last full season of high school baseball, Covey was named a Dream Team first-team selection. He garnered Orange Coast League Pitcher of the Year honors, finishing his junior year with an 8-1 record and a 0.37 earned run average. He notched 109 strikeouts over 76 1/3 innings that season.

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