2025 Baseball

All in the Family: No. 1 Salpointe beats rival CDO behind players with strong athletic lineages

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Former Sabino standout and New York Yankees prospect Jeff Saffer with his son Paul, a senior outfielder at Salpointe (Javier Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

John Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success” has directly impacted Salpointe baseball’s family trees of achievement.

Salpointe senior left fielder Paul Saffer’s grandfather Don Saffer was a guard on John Wooden’s NCAA championship teams in 1967, 1968 and 1969 at UCLA.

“I grew up hearing about the Pyramid of Success — you can’t achieve anything without working hard,” said Paul’s father Jeff Saffer, an assistant on the team who excelled as a football and baseball player at Sabino before playing in the New York Yankees’ organization from 1995 to 1997.

“Paul has been, I mean, he’s put in more hours in the batting cages and more hours with me than I can imagine any kid in town has. It’s great to see it translate to the field.”

The Saffer athletic lineage is an example of the prominent family ties many of the Lancers possess.

They all performed well in Salpointe’s 10-0 win in six innings over rival Canyon del Oro at the Lancers’ field on Friday night.

  • Senior right fielder Adan Koch-Rodriguez (2 for 4 with two runs and a triple against CDO) is the son of former Arizona linebacker Adrian Koch.
  • Junior center fielder Colton Raetzman (2 for 3 with three runs) is the son of former Arizona quarterback Garrett Raetzman. His brothers Charlie, Cody and Conner were football standouts at Salpointe who have gone on to play at Minot (N.D.) State.
  • Senior third baseman Izaiah Moraga (1 for 3 with a run and four RBIs) is the son of former Sunnyside player Ernest Moraga, who went on to play at South Mountain Community College and Wayland Baptist. Izaiah’s uncle Omar Moraga is a former Sunnyside and Arizona standout.
  • Junior first baseman Anthony Milo Jr. is the son of former Arizona baseball player Tony Milo and softball player Katie Swan. In 2018, Tony and Katie created the Milo Swan Foundation, a 501(c)(3) certified non-profit organization dedicated to rallying the community to support the NIL efforts of local athletes, promoting its fundraising efforts through social media and in-person events.
Paul Saffer reacts to hitting a double in Salpointe’s 10-0 win over CDO (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

The pillars of Wooden’s Pyramid of Success include terms tied to family — loyalty, cooperation, intentness, and team spirit — leading to competitive greatness at the top of the pyramid.

Jeff Saffer, a first baseman and outfielder, was drafted in the 10th round by the Yankees out of Pima College in 1995.

Paul’s uncle Jon Saffer is one of the best outfielders to come out of Tucson, drafted in the fifth round by the Montreal Expos in 1993 following a stellar career at Amphitheater. He played in the Expos’ organization for seven years.

“Growing up in a baseball family, they always pushed me very hard,” said Paul, who went 2 for 3 with three runs and a double against the Dorados. “They always give me the best advice. They’re supportive.

“It’s not necessarily pressure but it’s something to look up to and inspire to be.”

Another uncle, Mike Saffer was a Parade All-American offensive lineman at Sabino under Jeff Scurran who went on to a career at UCLA from 1998 to 2002.

Mike is a prominent advertising-agency businessman in the Tucson community who is a co-founder of the Arizona Assist Club, which works to bring opportunities to Arizona men’s basketball players to better monetize their individual and collective brands.

Jon, an equity partner with the Rusing Lopez & Lizardi law firm in Tucson, earned his law and marketing degrees at Arizona.

Jeff is also a local attorney who is a real-estate developer. A recent project was reforming properties that he owns in Greer.

Paul’s aunt Danielle Saffer Shaul lives in Phoenix and has served as an academic guidance counselor at Mountain Pointe High School and branches of the University of Arizona in that area.

Don Saffer, the patriarch, passed away last December at 78. After moving with his family to Tucson in 1979, the elder Saffer pursued various entrepreneurial ventures, including owning and operating a gym, a bar/nightclub, and frozen yogurt shops. In the early 1990s, he became the headmaster of Fenster School, where he spent two decades.

“My dad lived here, all of my wife’s family is here,” Jeff Saffer said. “So Paul’s been surrounded by great grandparents. He’s had great support.”

Paul’s mother Amanda is a board-certified health and wellness expert locally. She owns Saffer Wellness, a full-service nutrition and wellness business.

“My wife’s father Mike Paul was also involved in baseball, playing professionally for a number of years and he also served as a scout for a number of years,” Jeff said of his father-in-law who played seven years in the majors from 1968 to 1974 was a coach the following seven years before performing scouting duties.

“With Paul (Saffer), starting early with Little League, we just tried to have fun with it. He’s worked his tail off, and it’s kind of all coming together. As far as learning about the game, for me, I’m just having a blast with him. I mean, it’s so much more fun being a dad and watching your kid play than playing yourself.”

Paul welcomes his dad being in the dugout working alongside coach Salpointe coach Danny Preble and his staff.

“He’s been really supportive,” Paul said of his dad. “He gives me that mid-game talking-to that really gets me going. It’s great to have him at practice. I’m very grateful to have him in the dugout.”

It’s not a coincidence that Salpointe with all this impressive athletic family lineage and experience is the No. 1 team in the 4A with a 13-0-1 record.

Preble’s team has 13 seniors, including Paul, Koch-Rodriguez, Moraga, Lucas Shannon (three-run home run against CDO) and starting right-hander Ernesto Bojorquez (the winning pitcher).

“This is a group of guys that has really bought in to preparation,” Preble said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys who show up and they’re hard to kick out of the dugout every night. We practice until 8:15 because we’re fortunate to have the lights.

“‘You’ve got to go home.’ ‘No, no, we want more groundballs. We want to hit in the cage more.’ … So we have a bunch of guys who have really bought in. It’s fun to watch and when it comes out like it did tonight, it’s really good for them.”

Bojorquez limited CDO to two hits and struck out three batters in his complete-game performance. He walked five but worked through the situations unscathed.

“In our team meeting after the game, one of our coaches (Vic Acuna) mentioned that he’s been here 29 years and that’s one of the best pitching performances he’s seen in his 29 years,” Preble said. “There’s been a lot of good ones here. He threw the ball really, really well tonight — all pitches, all counts.

“No fear in general. We’re going to throw a 3-0 breaking ball? Okay, here it comes. It gets us out of the inning. We get a weak pop up or jam-job ground ball to second base.”

Bojorquez mentioned that he hit his spots on his pitches from his concentration, helped by the fact he was facing CDO for the first time on the mound.

“Pitching location is all that really mattered right there,” he said. “I was able to hit my spots … Obviously, we know that they’re our rivals so that helped us focus and win.”

Shannon’s three-run home run was part of a four-run rally that increased Salpointe’s lead to 5-0 in the third inning.

“We always look forward and circle CDO on our schedule,” Shannon said. “Handling business and putting up 10 runs on them is big time.”

The programs are no longer region rivals who play twice a year. CDO was moved to 5A this school year while Salpointe remained at 4A.

Preble and CDO coach Jason Hisey aim to keep the rivalry going with at least one meeting a season.

Their programs faced each other in the 2022 4A state championship game at Hi Corbett Field with CDO prevailing 7-6. The schools also played for the 5A title in 1997 when Kent Winslow coached Salpointe and Phil Wright was at CDO. The Dorados won that game 12-11.

“We don’t get to play them twice a year, but I’m glad that they’re still on our schedule,” Preble said. “That’s a quality program. They compete. They’ve done that for years. That’s what makes the rivalry, the matchup, really special.”

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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