Year founded 2015 Ownership Andrew Dunn Founded 2015 League championships 2,016 | Colors Green, black, gold Manager Kirby Campbell League Pecos League | |
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Website www.saguarosbaseball.com Location Tucson, Arizona, United States Ballparks Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, Warren Ballpark (Sundays) | ||
Tucson saguaros baseball aug 10 vs tinidad co pecos league championship game 2
The Tucson Saguaros is a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona that began play in 2016. The club is a member of the Pecos League, an independent baseball league which is not affiliated with MLB or Minor League Baseball.
Contents
Tucson saguaros win championship
History
Announced in November 2015 as an expansion franchise, Tucson began play in the 2016 season. The club calls Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium home with the exception of Sunday games - scheduled for Warren Ballpark in Bisbee, Arizona.
2016: Inaugural season and a Pecos League championship
The team began signing players for its first season in winter preparing for opening of its training camp in May.
2016 Saguaros manager J.D. Droddy was featured in the 2014 Fox Sports 1 six-episode reality TV show "The Pecos League" as the manager of the Trinidad Triggers. He spent twenty years in the United States Air Force, flying 44 combat missions in the Vietnam War. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1989, he practiced law in Portland, Oregon, but "hated every minute of practicing law." Afterward, he became a college professor, wrote plays, and became a self-taught composer, writing a ballet called the "Lady of White Sands." Before managing the Trinidad Triggers, he was a host for Pecos League players.
The Saguaros opened their inaugural season 6-0, sweeping the Santa Fe Fuego in a 4-game series. In a high-scoring 22-12 victory on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 against the White Sands Pupfish in Alamogordo, New Mexico, the Saguaros had 29 hits and four home runs, one of which was hit by the starting pitcher, Carlos Diaz.
On July 4, 2016, the Saguaros broke the all-time Pecos League record by drawing 8,720 fans to their contest against Roswell, an 8-4 Invaders win.
On August 11, 2016, the Saguaros became the 2016 Pecos League Champions by defeating the Trinidad Triggers 2 games to 0 in a 5-4 victory. Entering the bottom of the 9th inning, the Trinidad Triggers were leading 4-1. Catcher Jesse Baker scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning when Christian Schneider threw a wild pitch to pinch hitter Thomas McKenna.
2017
Kirby Campbell was announced as the new manager on October 12, 2016, while the previous manager, J.D. Droddy, remained on the Saguaros as the Director of Player Procurement. Campbell, a 2014 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, began the 2016 season as the starting first baseman of the Great Bend Boom and became Great Bend's manager midway through the season.