2026 Santa Fe Fuego Season Recap - Connor Hickey's Historic Triple Crown Season Highlights Jacob Young's First Year

The 2026 Santa Fe Fuego season was a year of extremes at Fort Marcy. Under manager Jacob Young, the Fuego possessed one of the most dangerous offenses in the Pecos League and were led by an extraordinary season from Connor Hickey, who emerged as the Mountain Division Most Valuable Player and won the Triple Crown. Santa Fe could score with anyone in the league, but the same problem that had troubled the organization during several recent seasons returned again. The Fuego simply couldn't find enough consistent pitching to turn their tremendous offensive production into enough victories to reach the postseason.

Young took over a Santa Fe franchise that had struggled through the previous several seasons and was attempting to find a way back into the Mountain Division playoff picture. Managing the Fuego has always been one of the most unusual assignments in the Pecos League. Fort Marcy sits at approximately 7,000 feet with dimensions that heavily favor hitters, meaning a manager has to build and operate a team differently than he would almost anywhere else. No lead is completely safe, pitching staffs can be exhausted quickly and a game that appears under control can completely change in one inning.

The Fuego gave Young a victory in his first game of the regular season, defeating their opponent 3-1 on May 28. It was almost the exact opposite of the type of game Santa Fe would play throughout much of the summer. Instead of an offensive shootout, the Fuego opened with pitching and defense and started the Jacob Young era with a win.

The next three games provided a much more familiar version of Fort Marcy baseball. Santa Fe lost 17-6 and 17-5 before dropping an incredible 28-25 game. In only four games, the Fuego had gone from winning 3-1 to participating in a game featuring 53 combined runs. It was an immediate reminder of the challenge Young faced trying to manage a pitching staff in Santa Fe.

The Fuego responded as June began, winning consecutive road games 18-17 and 4-1. The two victories couldn't have been more different. One required Santa Fe to score 18 runs just to win by one, while the other required only four runs. Those games illustrated the formula Young needed if the Fuego were going to contend. The offense was going to score. The question was whether the pitching could provide enough nights like the 4-1 victory to balance the inevitable shootouts.

Unfortunately, the pitching problems quickly became overwhelming. Santa Fe lost 36-8, 23-11, 26-9 and 25-16 before dropping a 5-3 road game and an 18-8 contest. A 9-6 victory briefly stopped the slide, and the Fuego later earned a convincing 10-3 win, but the club couldn't establish any sustained momentum.

Even as the losses accumulated, one of the greatest individual offensive seasons in Santa Fe Fuego history was developing in the middle of Young's lineup.

Connor Hickey was putting together a season unlike anything the Fuego had seen in years.

Hickey appeared in 52 games and collected an incredible 113 hits in 225 at-bats, finishing the season with a .502 batting average. He scored 94 runs, hit 14 doubles and blasted 29 home runs while driving in 90. He also walked 30 times, was hit by 11 pitches and stole 20 bases. Hickey didn't simply lead Santa Fe offensively. He became the most dominant hitter in the Mountain Division.

Hickey ultimately won the Mountain Division Triple Crown, finishing with a .502 average, 29 home runs and 90 RBIs. His performance earned him Mountain Division Most Valuable Player honors and gave the Fuego one of the signature individual accomplishments of the entire 2026 Pecos League season.

Hitting .500 over a professional season is extraordinary under any circumstances. Hickey finished with more hits than games played by a margin of more than two to one, averaging more than two hits per game. His 94 runs in 52 games meant he was scoring nearly twice per game, while his 29 home runs gave Santa Fe an elite power hitter in addition to a player who was consistently reaching base.

Hickey wasn't simply a Fort Marcy creation. His production remained the centerpiece of the Fuego offense throughout the schedule. Opposing pitchers had almost no good way to attack him. Pitching to him risked allowing another extra-base hit or home run. Pitching around him put a .500 hitter on base in an offense filled with other dangerous bats.

And Young had plenty of other hitters behind him.

Alex Elliott produced an outstanding season, appearing in 49 games and collecting 81 hits in 197 at-bats for a .411 average. Elliott scored 55 runs, hit nine doubles and four home runs and drove in 59. He struck out only 18 times while drawing 27 walks, giving Santa Fe another hitter who consistently put the baseball in play and reached base.

Sam Freedman became one of the biggest power threats behind Hickey. Freedman played 48 games and collected 76 hits in 195 at-bats, finishing with a .390 average. He scored 53 runs, hit nine doubles, two triples and 17 home runs while driving in 70. With Hickey hitting 29 home runs and Freedman adding 17, the middle of the Santa Fe lineup could change a game in a matter of pitches.

Terrance McGowan provided another remarkably consistent bat. McGowan appeared in 50 games and collected 81 hits in 211 at-bats for a .384 average. He scored 55 runs, hit 12 doubles, one triple and five home runs and drove in 40. McGowan also was hit by pitches 26 times, repeatedly finding ways to reach base and keep innings alive.

Nick Tarantino hit .364 over 45 games, collecting 63 hits and scoring 55 runs. He hit 10 home runs and drove in 56 while drawing 36 walks. Garrett Esposito added 11 home runs and 40 RBIs while scoring 56 runs and stealing 13 bases. Dily Romero hit .315 with three home runs and 33 RBIs, while Layne Sanders collected 44 hits and drew 40 walks in 43 games.

The numbers throughout the lineup were staggering. Hickey hit .502. Elliott hit .411. Freedman hit .390. McGowan hit .384. Tarantino hit .364. Santa Fe wasn't struggling because it couldn't hit. Young had one of the deepest and most productive offensive groups in the league.

The problem was what happened when Santa Fe took the field defensively.

The Fuego pitching staff had an extraordinarily difficult season. Jake Young carried one of the largest workloads, appearing in 13 games and throwing 64.1 innings. He struck out 60 hitters but allowed 117 hits and 90 runs while finishing 1-4. Daniel Allard became another workhorse, appearing in 26 games and throwing 60 innings. Allard went 3-2 with one save but allowed 106 hits and 94 runs.

Ryan Jones made 10 starts and threw 47 innings, finishing 2-5 while striking out 46. Dylan Weddle made four starts and worked 28.2 innings. Zane Loveday was asked to make eight starts among his 13 appearances. Joey Muccilli made five starts, while Chris Macias made four.

The problem wasn't simply that the pitching staff was allowing runs. It was the volume of runs being allowed and the difficulty Young had finding enough reliable innings to get through the schedule. Santa Fe repeatedly found itself needing 15 or 20 runs simply to have a chance to win.

The most dramatic example came early when the Fuego scored 25 runs and still lost 28-25. But it was hardly an isolated incident. Santa Fe lost 25-16, 33-16, 32-23, 27-14, 20-10, 21-14 and 20-17 during the season. On July 2, the Fuego allowed 41 runs in a 41-10 defeat.

There is almost nothing a manager can do offensively when his team needs to overcome those kinds of totals. Young could put Hickey, Elliott, Freedman, McGowan, Tarantino and Esposito into the lineup every night, but even one of the league's best offenses couldn't consistently score enough to survive the pitching problems.

There were still stretches when the Fuego showed what they could accomplish. After a difficult beginning to June, Santa Fe earned a 3-2 road victory on June 15. The Fuego later returned to Fort Marcy and put together one of their best stretches of the season, winning three consecutive games by scores of 19-17, 22-17 and 16-11.

Those three games were classic Santa Fe baseball. The Fuego scored 57 runs in three victories, using their offensive strength to simply overwhelm their opponents. For a brief period, Young's team was winning the type of shootouts that had become unavoidable.

The momentum disappeared again when Santa Fe lost four consecutive games by scores of 32-23, 14-11, 27-14 and 20-10. The Fuego responded with a 20-14 road victory, but by the end of June the pattern of the season was firmly established. Santa Fe could win when the offense completely took over, but the pitching staff provided almost no margin for an ordinary offensive night.

July became another difficult month. Santa Fe lost 41-10 and 21-14 before earning a 15-6 road victory. The Fuego then lost 5-1 and 9-7 before dropping a heartbreaking 13-12 game. Santa Fe responded with a 12-11 victory and later won 19-12, but again couldn't string enough victories together to change its position in the standings.

The one-run games were particularly frustrating because they demonstrated that Santa Fe wasn't always being overwhelmed. The Fuego lost 9-7, 13-12 and later 20-17 while also winning 12-11. A few additional outs from the pitching staff could have turned several of those games and given Young's club opportunities to build momentum.

By the middle of July, however, the postseason was moving increasingly out of reach. Santa Fe lost 13-4 and 12-3 on the road before returning home and losing 17-6. The Fuego responded with a convincing 15-4 victory, but another loss followed immediately.

The final portion of the schedule became especially difficult. Santa Fe lost 6-3, 15-3, 26-10 and 21-14. Another high-scoring game ended with the Fuego on the wrong side of the result before an 8-4 defeat. Santa Fe finally closed the season with an 11-9 victory on July 26.

That final victory was a fitting conclusion for the 2026 Fuego. Santa Fe needed 11 runs to win, but this time the offense produced enough and the pitching staff held the opponent to nine. After a summer in which the Fuego repeatedly scored enormous numbers of runs without being rewarded with victories, the season at least ended with Santa Fe on the winning side of another Fort Marcy-style game.

The final record didn't reflect the quality of Young's offense. Santa Fe finished at the bottom of the Mountain South standings and missed the postseason, but the Fuego produced one of the most statistically impressive lineups in the league. Five regular hitters finished above .360, and several combined high averages with significant home-run power.

Hickey was in a category by himself.

His .502 average, 29 home runs and 90 RBIs gave him the Mountain Division Triple Crown and made him the Mountain Division Most Valuable Player. He also scored 94 runs, stole 20 bases and collected 113 hits. For a franchise that has featured some extraordinary offensive players during its history, Hickey's 2026 season immediately earned a place among the greatest individual seasons ever produced by a Santa Fe Fuego hitter.

Freedman's .390 average, 17 home runs and 70 RBIs would have made him the centerpiece of many teams. Elliott's .411 average and 59 RBIs represented another outstanding season. McGowan hit .384, Tarantino hit .364 with 10 home runs and Esposito added 11 home runs. Young's lineup wasn't built around one hitter. Hickey was the superstar, but there were dangerous bats throughout the order.

The pitching statistics told the opposite story. The Fuego repeatedly had to use a large number of pitchers, and several position players also appeared on the mound. Esposito made five pitching appearances, while catchers Dily Romero, Ivan Salas and Ethan Martinez also took the mound. Quinton Copeland appeared in four games as a pitcher. When a team is regularly asking position players to cover innings, it becomes extremely difficult to maintain a stable pitching staff over a professional schedule.

Tyler Campbell provided one remarkable exception. Campbell made two starts and completed both of them, finishing 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA over 14 innings. He allowed only two earned runs and struck out 17 while walking one. His limited stint showed exactly what Santa Fe desperately needed throughout the season: pitchers capable of attacking the strike zone, limiting free passes and keeping the Fuego offense within reach of the opponent.

But two starts couldn't solve an entire summer's pitching problems.

For Jacob Young, the 2026 season became an introduction to the unique challenge of managing the Santa Fe Fuego. He had an extraordinary offense and the Mountain Division MVP in the middle of his lineup, yet he spent much of the summer trying to piece together enough pitching to survive games. At almost any other level of baseball, scoring 15 runs would represent an almost certain victory. In Santa Fe, the Fuego scored 16 and lost. They scored 23 and lost. They scored 25 and lost.

That reality ultimately defined the season.

The Fuego weren't a team without talent. They weren't a team incapable of competing offensively. In fact, they were one of the most dangerous hitting teams in the league. What they lacked was the pitching necessary to convert all of that offensive talent into victories.

The contrast between Hickey's historic season and Santa Fe's place in the standings became one of the most remarkable stories of the Pecos League's 2026 season. The Mountain Division's Most Valuable Player came from the team that finished last in the Mountain South. Hickey was simply too dominant to ignore. His Triple Crown season transcended Santa Fe's record and established him as the division's premier player.

For the Fuego organization, Hickey's season provided something significant to remember from an otherwise difficult year. Fans at Fort Marcy watched a hitter bat over .500 while approaching 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in a short Pecos League season. Every night offered the possibility of another multi-hit game, another home run and another offensive performance that added to one of the greatest seasons in franchise history.

Young's first year leading Santa Fe therefore became a season of two dramatically different stories. Offensively, the Fuego were spectacular. Hickey won the Triple Crown and MVP, Elliott hit .411, Freedman hit .390 with 17 home runs, McGowan hit .384 and Tarantino hit .364. Santa Fe could score runs at an extraordinary rate and had one of the most intimidating lineups in the league.

On the mound, the Fuego never found the consistency necessary to support that lineup. High-scoring losses accumulated, position players were forced to pitch and Young spent the summer trying to find enough innings to get through the schedule. The result was another season without a playoff appearance despite an offense capable of producing spectacular numbers.

The 2026 Santa Fe Fuego will therefore be remembered less for their final position in the standings than for the extraordinary contrast that defined them. They were a last-place team with the Mountain Division's Most Valuable Player. They were a team that could score 25 runs and lose. They featured five regular hitters batting above .360 but couldn't find enough pitching to consistently protect those runs.

Most of all, the season will be remembered for Connor Hickey.

Hickey's .502 batting average, 29 home runs and 90 RBIs gave Santa Fe a Triple Crown winner and one of the greatest offensive seasons in Fuego history. His 113 hits, 94 runs and 20 stolen bases made the performance even more remarkable. In a season where the Fuego struggled to win games, Hickey gave Fort Marcy something special to watch every night.

Jacob Young's first season as manager didn't result in a return to the playoffs, but it established exactly what Santa Fe needed moving forward. The offense was already there. The Fuego had proven they could hit with anyone in the Pecos League. The challenge was finding enough pitching to give that offense a chance.

If Santa Fe could eventually combine the type of lineup Young managed in 2026 with a deeper and more consistent pitching staff, the Fuego could again become a serious Mountain Division contender. In 2026, that combination never developed.

Instead, the year became another unforgettable Fort Marcy season filled with enormous scores, incredible offensive performances and the constant unpredictability that has defined Santa Fe Fuego baseball since 2012. The Fuego didn't reach the postseason, but Connor Hickey captured the Triple Crown, earned Mountain Division MVP honors and gave Jacob Young's first Santa Fe team a historic individual season that will remain part of Fuego history for years to come.