Independent Baseball comes to New Mexico
In 2009 The
Las Cruces Vaqueros brought Independent Baseball into New Mexico for the first time since the 1960's.
With their success and great potential it opened the door for baseball in Southeast New Mexico the Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed in August of 2010.
The 2011 season was a huge success for Las Cruces, Roswell, Alamogordo and Alpine. Ruidoso and Carlsbad also had teams in the league.
Pecos League lands in Santa Fe
For the
2012 season the Pecos League committed to add a team in Trinidad Colorado with the prospects of a team in Pueblo for the 2013 season.
The league agreed that it would operate six teams not eight so the search was on for the 6th city.
Santa Fe seemed obvious but Pecos League Officials were told Fort Marcy Park was not available for play in both 2010 and 2011.
In August 2011 things began to change. However there are many hard core baseball fans buried within Santa Fe.
Pecos League owner Andrew Dunn challanged Ronald Trujillo to lead a movement to bring baseball to Santa Fe. The main opposition was sale of beer in Fort Marcy Park.
This issued turned into a huge debate that let many people know about the Santa Fe Professional Team and the Pecos League.
On November 9th the City Council voted 5-4 to allow beer sales in Fort Marcy Park which cleared the way for the Pecos League to occupy Fort Marcy Park for 2012 and beyond.
Team History Season by Season
2017 Season-TJ Zarewicz return as manager and credibility was restored in Santa Fe.
The team kept its Turquoise uniforms and the Pecos League realignement was much in their favor.
The Pecos League dropped 3 Kansas Teams and moved 5 teams to California and created a Pacific Division with Tucson and the five California Teams.
The Fuego were back in the division with familiar foes Trinidad, Garden City, Roswell, White Sands and Alpine.
Three teams on each side made the playoffs. The Fuego finished 36-32 which was not good enough to make it.
But they had a great season regardless. Nick Gotta hit .374 and played shortstop. Caleb Baker hit 18 HR. Eric Maria hit .359.
Ed Brandsema went 5-3 with a 5.40 ERA. Nick Hornbaker went 2-0 with an ERA of 3.20.
2016 Season-The Bill Moore era officially ended in Santa Fe as he took over in Garden City, Kansas.
The team went to Turquoise uniforms and the Pecos League saw major progress and alignment changes.
The Pecos League expanded to 10 teams with the Fuego being moved into the powerful Southern Division with Roswell, White Sands, Tucson and Alpine.
The Pecos League had four teams in Kansas and Trinidad in the North.
Keith Wood was named manager of the Fuego and his short time was the worst in the history of the team.
The team opened in Tucson before the played Trinidad, Roswell and Salina. Wood was removed as manager before the month ended.
He did not see eye to eye with Yvonne Encinias and had no chance of winning in the Pecos League.
He lost respect of the players and the once proud Santa Fe Fuego fans stopped coming to games.
TJ Zarewicz took over in the 2nd half as a player manager. Santa Fe finished 19-47 for the worst record in the league.
The Fuego had Eric Maria, Dan Aldrich and Chris Tavares who lead the way at the plate. Luis Ortega was the Fuego's number 1 arm.
Their pitching was the worst in the history of the league.
2015 Season-The Pecos League removed both Arizona teams and the Taos Blizzard to have eight teams again.
The Pecos League also expanded to Garden City and brought back Las Cruces Vaqueros. The Fuego and Triggers again made the playoffs.
The Fuego finished at 33-21 as they had 15 games rained out due to flooding in Santa Fe and Las Vegas.
Trinidad was 43-18 and huge favorites in the playoffs.
Chevas Numata hit a league record 32 HR. Eddie Newton carried the Fuego at the Shortstop position.
Francisco Rodriguez, Alex Teal and Tyler Herr led the Fuego on the mound.
In the last week of the regular season things got sideways for the Fuego.
Bill Moore called out his bullpen in the paper and the team threatened to boycott Moore. Moore resigned the last day of the regular season.
The team went in the playoffs without the only coach they had ever known.
The playoffs had the first two games rained out and the series was moved to a best of 3 series.
Dalton Bernardi pitched the first game and Francisco Rodriguez pitched the 2nd game to sweep the Triggers and return the Fuego to the finals.
They met and hosted and the Roswell Invaders who won a tough 5 game series with Alpine.
The Invaders had reset their rotation and won the first game 17-5 and the 2nd game 17-6 to win their 3rd Pecos League Championship in five years.
2014 Season-2014 will forever be the year of the Fuego. The Pecos League expanded to 10 teams adding Douglas and Bisbee, Arizona to the existing lineup.
Taos moved from South to North and The Fuego won the Northern Division with a record of 48-20.
The Fuego assembled the Pecos League's best team on the mound and in their lineup.
Their main addition was the return of Austin Carden who they got back from El Paso.
Preston Zachrich, Alex Teal, Brandon Marris and Jeremiah Steinert rounded out their rotation along with Carden.
Tyler Herr joined to help the bullpen forces.
Omar Artsen set a Pecos League Record with 52 stolen bases. He was signed by the Marlins at the end of the season.
Craig Massey played shortstop and hit .465. Erik Kozal hit 9 home runs and was named league MVP.
Chevas Numata was quickly the teams leading hitter and had a trademark white helmet.
The Fuego hosted the Trinidad Triggers in the Northern Division playoffs and dropped the first game 9-4. Josh Tols held the Fuego in place.
The Fuego won the 2nd game 7-3 and blew the Triggers out 22-0 in third and deciding game.
The Santa Fe Fuego had to make the 12 hour drive to Alpine Texas for the Championship Series in which they repeated their fate.
They lost the first game and then won the next two games to win their first ever Pecos League Championship.
2013 Season-This marked this first season with Yvonne Encinias as the teams Business manager.
The Pecos League expanded to 8 teams and Santa Fe was clearly the capital of the Pecos League as it hosted its first of four straight all star games.
The Fuego were in the North with Raton, Trinidad and Las Vegas.
6 of the 8 Pecos League teams were in New Mexico.
Jimmy Maxwell hit 24 home runs. Josh Barnett hit .365. Charlie Calamia and Kyle Zimmerman played all 67 games.
Austin Carden was the first Fuego player to be signed mid season. He was signed by the El Paso Diablos.
Jon Sintes started a team record 14 games for the Fuego. The Fuego went 36-31 and missed the playoffs by one game.
The Trinidad Triggers went 38-31. The Triggers were followed by a reality TV Show that documented them making the playoffs.
The final game of the season was rained out in Raton eliminating the Fuego. Still the Fuego showed they were competitive in the Pecos League.
2012 Season-
The Inaugural Santa Fe Fuego Team was an expansion team and dubbed the worst professional team in America.
The Legends of Last Place was published by Abe Steet.
Bill Moore was the Fuego's inaugural manager. Moore had came from the Bisbee Copperkings of the Arizona NBC League. He had managed since 1982.
He was not prepared for the Pecos League's fields or their furcious hitters in altitude. "In the Pecos League you can't make players better, you get new players. I loved our guys and I thought I could make them better. I was wrong."
The Fuego did excellent in attedence. At Fort Marcy proved to be a great environment to watch a baseball game.
A local 43 year old pitcher named Rodney Tafoya started the home opener for the Fuego as they defeated the Trinidad Triggers. Chris Treibt was a relief pitcher on the team.
The Fuego finished 23-47 and Fort Marcy Ballpark with its 7000 foot elevation and 300 foot fences allowed more runs than any ballpark in the history of baseball. It quickly was defined as a hitters park.
Chris Brown hit 23 home runs in 175 at bats. Jerome Romero went 4-0 with a 4.51 ERA. Jerome is from Santa Fe and along with Jonathan Sintes was the teams best pitcher.
Trent Evins threw 73 innings. The Fuego had a very tough time on the road when the left the high altitude of Santa Fe. The Fuego won just 7 road games all year and in the six team Pecos League the Fuego did not qualify for the playoffs.
