2014 Santa Fe Fuego Season Recap - The Greatest Season in Fuego History Ends With a Pecos League Championship

The 2014 Santa Fe Fuego season became the greatest season in franchise history and completed one of the most remarkable transformations in the early years of the Pecos League. Only two years after entering the league as an expansion team that had been labeled the worst professional baseball team in America, the Fuego reached the top of the Pecos League. Under manager Bill Moore, Santa Fe developed one of the most powerful offensive teams in the league, won 47 regular-season games and ultimately traveled to Alpine, Texas, where the Fuego defeated the Alpine Cowboys to win the 2014 Pecos League Championship.

For Bill Moore, the championship represented the culmination of everything he had been trying to build since arriving in Santa Fe. Moore had been part of the original meetings that helped establish the Pecos League and had wanted to bring his Bisbee Copper Kings into the league before Santa Fe ever existed. When that opportunity didn't materialize, Moore accepted the job as the inaugural manager of the expansion Fuego in 2012. His first season was difficult. The Fuego finished 23-47, struggled terribly on the road and became nationally known for all the wrong reasons.

Two years later, Moore was a Pecos League Champion.

The transformation of the Fuego between 2012 and 2014 was dramatic. Moore had learned the realities of managing in the Pecos League. He understood the travel, the roster turnover, the unusual ballparks and the type of players required to win in an offensive environment unlike almost anything else in professional baseball. Most importantly, he had learned how to build a team specifically suited for Fort Marcy Park without creating a club that could only win in Santa Fe.

The 2014 Fuego could win anywhere.

That became the difference between an entertaining team and a championship team.

Santa Fe opened the season by immediately establishing itself as a contender. The Fuego defeated Taos 14-5 and 15-1 in their first two games before suffering their first loss of the season. They responded with a 14-8 victory and then defeated Trinidad 12-4. Santa Fe won seven of its first nine games with decisions and demonstrated from the opening week that the lineup was going to be extremely difficult to contain.

The offense was relentless. During the opening weeks alone, Santa Fe scored 14, 15, 14, 12, 17, 12, 17 and 17 runs in victories. The Fuego could overwhelm an opponent before the game reached the middle innings, and Fort Marcy remained one of the most dangerous places in the Pecos League for visiting pitchers.

But this wasn't simply the wild offensive baseball that had characterized the inaugural Fuego two years earlier. The 2014 club was deeper, more experienced and much more capable of turning all of those runs into victories.

At the center of the offense was Omar Artsen, who produced one of the most impressive hitting seasons on the team. Artsen played 64 games and collected an extraordinary 113 hits in 283 at-bats. He scored 87 runs, hit 21 doubles, two triples and eight home runs while driving in 70 runs. His combination of contact, speed and run production made him one of the engines of the Santa Fe offense.

Craig Massey was equally important. Massey collected 113 hits in only 243 at-bats while playing 58 games. He scored 62 runs, hit 24 doubles, one triple and eight home runs and drove in 80 runs. He also struck out only 30 times. Massey's ability to consistently put the baseball in play gave the Fuego another hitter who seemed to be on base throughout the summer.

Erik Kozel supplied another extraordinary season. Kozel played 61 games and scored an incredible 101 runs. He collected 92 hits, including 17 doubles, a triple and nine home runs, while driving in 53. He also drew 37 walks and stole 20 bases. Scoring more than 100 runs in a season demonstrated both Kozel's ability to reach base and the extraordinary depth of the lineup hitting behind him.

Nick Billinger gave Santa Fe another major offensive weapon. Billinger collected 106 hits in 255 at-bats while playing 63 games. He scored 72 runs, hit 20 doubles and four home runs and drove in 54. Billinger also drew 46 walks, helping him become another constant presence on the bases.

Then there was Chevas Numata.

Numata became one of the most dangerous power hitters in the lineup, hitting 15 home runs and driving in a team-high 84 runs while collecting 96 hits. He scored 74 times and added 15 doubles. In a lineup already filled with hitters capable of reaching base, Numata gave Santa Fe exactly what it needed in the middle of the order: a hitter capable of bringing everybody home.

Charles Johnson added 81 hits, nine home runs and 59 RBIs, while Brice Cutspec hit 10 home runs and drove in 47 runs in only 43 games. Aaron Carmen played 63 games and collected 84 hits while driving in 35. Everywhere an opposing pitcher looked, another dangerous Santa Fe hitter seemed to be waiting.

The lineup was built perfectly for Fort Marcy, but the Fuego's championship hopes depended on something much more difficult to find in Santa Fe.

Pitching.

Preston Zachrich became the most successful starter on the staff, finishing 8-2 with a 4.00 ERA. He threw 63 innings, completed two games and struck out 50 hitters. In the offensive environment of the Pecos League, and particularly considering the games played at Fort Marcy, Zachrich's ability to consistently give Santa Fe quality innings was enormously valuable.

Brandon Marris also became an important member of the rotation. Marris finished 5-3 while making 12 starts and throwing 68.2 innings. He struck out 61 hitters and completed one game. Alex Teal threw 66.1 innings and struck out 62, while Josh Downing worked 65.1 innings. Jeremiah Steinert threw another 64.1 innings and won seven games.

The depth of the staff mattered. Santa Fe didn't need every pitcher to dominate. With the offense Moore had assembled, the Fuego needed pitchers who could keep games within reach and absorb innings without allowing contests to completely unravel.

Austin Carden went 4-2 while throwing 49 innings, and Charlie McCready became an effective bullpen option, appearing in 20 games and striking out 35 hitters in 27.2 innings. Tyler Herr, Austin Cox, Branden Gonella and others helped give Moore enough options to navigate the high-scoring environment that defined Pecos League baseball.

The result was a team capable of winning in several different ways.

Santa Fe could win 17-2.

It could win 5-4.

It could win 10-1.

It could win 7-6.

That versatility became one of the defining differences between the 2014 Fuego and the teams that had come before it.

There were difficult stretches during the season. Early June brought several losses, including an 18-9 defeat and consecutive 4-1 losses. Santa Fe then lost 10-5. For a brief period, the team that had started the season so strongly appeared vulnerable.

But championship teams don't avoid adversity. They respond to it.

Santa Fe did exactly that.

The Fuego answered with a 23-13 victory and continued working their way through the schedule. They won 10-7 on the road, 12-7 at home, 10-1, 12-6, 7-6 and 14-2. Even when losses interrupted the momentum, Santa Fe rarely stayed down for long.

The offense continued producing enormous totals throughout the summer. The Fuego scored 17 runs in multiple victories, scored 23 in another and later produced one of their most overwhelming performances of the season with a 27-4 victory. Santa Fe also recorded victories of 17-10, 16-9 and 22-0 during the final portion of the schedule.

By late July, there was no question that the Fuego were capable of winning the Pecos League Championship.

The team that had once struggled to win away from Fort Marcy was no longer dependent upon Santa Fe's altitude and short fences. The Fuego had matured into a complete baseball team capable of taking its offense on the road and winning important games away from home.

That development would ultimately define the season because the championship would not be won at Fort Marcy.

It would have to be won in Alpine, Texas.

Few assignments in the Pecos League were more difficult than traveling to Alpine and playing the Cowboys at Kokernot Field. Alpine had established itself as one of the premier organizations in the league and Kokernot Field offered an entirely different baseball environment from Fort Marcy. The spacious and historic ballpark demanded a different style of baseball from the short fences and high altitude of Santa Fe.

If the Fuego were going to become champions, they were going to have to prove that their success wasn't simply the product of Fort Marcy.

The final days of July provided that opportunity.

Santa Fe entered Alpine and immediately found itself in trouble. The Fuego lost the opening game 5-4, putting their championship hopes in jeopardy. After everything Santa Fe had accomplished during the regular season, one more loss could bring the greatest season in franchise history to a sudden end.

The Fuego had to win the next game.

They did.

Santa Fe responded with a convincing 6-1 victory in Alpine. The Fuego had gone from the edge of elimination to forcing a deciding championship game.

Everything the franchise had experienced since its arrival in 2012 now came down to one game.

Bill Moore had endured the inaugural season. He had managed the team that had been called the worst professional baseball team in America. He had watched pitchers struggle at Fort Marcy and had learned firsthand how quickly a Pecos League roster sometimes needed to change. He had gradually transformed the Fuego from an expansion novelty into a legitimate contender.

Now Moore and the Fuego were one victory away from a championship.

The deciding game was played August 1 in Alpine.

Santa Fe won 7-3.

The Santa Fe Fuego were Pecos League Champions.

And they had won the championship in Alpine, Texas.

That location made the accomplishment even more significant. The early Fuego had been known for the enormous offensive numbers produced at Fort Marcy and for their struggles when they left Santa Fe. The 2012 team had won only seven road games all season. Two years later, Santa Fe had traveled to one of the most difficult road environments in the league and won the final two games of the championship series.

There could be no argument that the Fuego were simply a product of Fort Marcy.

They were champions.

For Bill Moore, the victory completed one of the great managerial stories in the early history of the Pecos League. Moore had been involved in the league's original foundation meetings but initially couldn't get his Bisbee organization into the league. When Santa Fe became available, he made the decision to take over the expansion Fuego.

His first season produced 47 losses.

His third season produced a championship.

The transformation wasn't accidental. Moore had learned what worked in the Pecos League and what didn't. He had learned that roster management was different at this level of independent baseball. He had learned how to build around Fort Marcy without becoming completely dependent upon it. By 2014, he had assembled a team with an extraordinary offense, enough pitching depth to survive the summer and the confidence to win away from home when the season mattered most.

The championship also represented an important moment for the Santa Fe baseball community. When the Pecos League first announced plans to play at Fort Marcy, there had been legitimate questions about whether the arrangement could work. The elevation was extreme. The fences were short. The facility was unconventional. The baseball could occasionally become chaotic.

But Santa Fe fans had embraced the Fuego from the beginning.

By 2014, those fans weren't simply supporting an unusual independent baseball team playing in a unique ballpark.

They were supporting the champions of the Pecos League.

The players who powered that championship team became part of Fuego history. Artsen's 113 hits and 87 runs, Massey's 113 hits and 80 RBIs, Kozel's 101 runs, Billinger's 106 hits, Numata's 15 home runs and 84 RBIs and the contributions of Johnson, Cutspec, Carmen and the rest of the lineup made the 2014 Fuego one of the deepest offensive teams the franchise had assembled.

The pitchers were equally important because winning a championship required more than simply taking advantage of Fort Marcy. Zachrich's 8-2 season gave Moore a dependable starter. Marris provided nearly 69 innings. Teal, Downing and Steinert carried major workloads. Carden won four games. McCready gave the bullpen important innings.

Together, they gave Santa Fe enough pitching to support one of the most productive offenses in the league.

The final three games in Alpine provided the ultimate proof.

Santa Fe lost 5-4.

Santa Fe won 6-1.

Santa Fe won 7-3.

Pecos League Champions.

The 2014 season remains one of the defining chapters in Santa Fe Fuego history because of how far the organization had traveled in such a short amount of time. In 2012, the Fuego were an expansion team attempting to prove professional baseball could survive at Fort Marcy. They finished 23-47 and became famous as the subject of "The Legends of Last Place."

By 2014, nobody was laughing at the Fuego.

Santa Fe had become one of the strongest teams in the Pecos League.

Fort Marcy had become one of the league's signature ballparks.

Bill Moore had become a championship manager.

And the Santa Fe Fuego had become Pecos League Champions.

There would be other successful Fuego seasons and other outstanding players who passed through Fort Marcy, but 2014 established the standard. It was the season when everything came together. The explosive offense, the improved pitching, Moore's experience and the unique energy surrounding baseball in Santa Fe combined to produce the greatest result the franchise could achieve.

The Fuego didn't get to celebrate the championship by winning the final game in front of the Beer Jail and the home crowd at Fort Marcy. They had to earn it hundreds of miles away at Kokernot Field in Alpine.

In many ways, that made the championship even more meaningful.

The franchise that had once struggled desperately whenever it left the altitude of Santa Fe had become good enough to go on the road and win the biggest games in its history.

Two years after being called the worst professional baseball team in America, the Santa Fe Fuego were the best team in the Pecos League.

The greatest season in Fuego history ended exactly where a championship season should end.

With Bill Moore and the Santa Fe Fuego celebrating a Pecos League Championship in Alpine, Texas.