When Sean McNeill took over as Tucson Saguaros manager in 2020, the independent-league team played its games in Houston because of COVID-19 and then at Amphi High School in their first season back in Tucson in 2021.
Both seasons resulted in Pecos League championships.
If Tucson could win titles that way, imagine what could happen when it played its games at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, a former MLB spring-training site that is the best facility by far in the Pecos League?
The Saguaros advanced to the championship series in 2022 and 2023 and returned this season.
On Monday night, the Saguaros won it all again, topping the San Rafael (Calif.) Pacifics 11-7 the final game of the best-of-three championship series in front of nearly 1,000 boisterous and rowdy fans at Kino.
That’s three Pecos League championships and an incredible 200-76 record since 2020 under McNeill.
Tucson won 20 of its last 21 games this season to finish 49-10.
“Being able to find good players,” McNeill said when asked the reason for the dominance. “Honestly, part of it’s Kino. I’m able to find players because of Kino.”
With the Tucson Saguaros’ 11-7 win over the San Rafael (Calif.) Pacifics tonight, they won their third Pecos League title under manager Sean McNeill. They have won titles in 2020, 2021 and now 2025 under him while also making it to the championship series in 2022 and 2023. They… pic.twitter.com/Fy1myq0lir
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 12, 2025
As also the general manager, McNeill did not have to go far to findfirst baseman Antonio Fernandez, who hails from Tucson and graduated from Sabino in 2018.
Playing in front of family and friends this season for the first time in seven years after playing for three different colleges and in another independent league, the Pioneer League with Billings (Mont.), Fernandez finally had the chance to play at Kino again after taking part in high school all-star games there.
“Ever since I graduated from high school, I’ve been states away from my family,” said Fernandez , who earned NAIA All-American honors at McPherson (Kan.) College. “They haven’t really been able to come see me play. Being able to come back home, play a season with them in the stands, it’s awesome.
“Especially doing it in front of your hometown crowd, and get backed by the community every single home game, it’s the best thing ever.”
Sabino Class of 2018 graduate Antonio Fernandez can always take with him winning a championship in his hometown. He made the defensive play of the game at first base, snagging a hard-hit grounder with a well-timed dive, recording the out in his own and preventing a run when… pic.twitter.com/qB8nCzIdgz
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 12, 2025
Many in the crowd stuck around throughout Tucson’s postgame celebration on the field, which included Fernandez hoisting the Pecos League championship trophy in the air as he walked toward them coming off the field. His teammate Mason Longoria handed him the trophy to show the fans, knowing how special the moment was for him.
“It’s the greatest feeling to look up in the stands and see them there and having their support,” Fernandez said of his family and the ardent group of Tucson fans in general.
Fernandez made one of many stellar defensive plays for the Saguaros that prevented the Pacifics (35-18) from gaining the lead or pulling away.
Tucson battled back after trailing 4-0 going into the bottom of the second inning.
The Saguaros’ 7-6 lead in the bottom of the seventh was preserved when Fernandez made a diving grab of a hard-hit grounder near the foul line by Chris Wright (who earlier belted a two-run run homer).
The runner on second could not score after Fernandez got to the feet and tagged first base just in time to end the inning.
“I kind of had an idea that their lefty (Wright), he’s been swinging a hot bat the entire time they had been out here, so I had an idea he was going to come towards me,” Fernandez said. “He hadn’t hit one right at me yet. I was, ‘Alright, something’s probably coming my way, if we get him out in front.’
“Sure enough, I was waiting for it, and it came, and I was just trying to slow it down as much as I could.”
The following inning, things started to unravel for San Rafael, including manager Chris Johnson’s ejection.
Cool moment: Sabino graduate Antonio Fernandez given the opportunity by Tucson Saguaros teammate Treshon Paschal to hoist the Pecos League championship trophy in front of the home crowd. pic.twitter.com/wPl8Fy2EFt
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 12, 2025
Johnson said something to the umps after arguing with them when they ruled that Mark Hernandez swung into a pitch rather than it be a hit-by-pitch.
Hernandez was awarded first base before McNeill asked for an ump conference. The umps first ruled the hit-by-pitch ruling was correct, but McNeill argued the first-base ump called a strike on the swing when it occurred.
Hernandez was ultimately forced back to the plate causing Johnson to go into a tirade..
After he was tossed, he started throwing bats from the dugout on to the field.
Tucson reliever Jesse Palafox ultimately retired the side.
The Saguaros scored four insurance runs in the eighth inning to pull away to an 11-6 lead.
After allowing a run in the top of the ninth, Trashon Paschal worked out of the jam by striking out the last batter. The celebration was on. Euphoria set in.
“It means everything, being able to do it at Kino, especially,” McNeill said of the experience. “It’s always hard to win a championship but just doing it here, with the fans supporting us, it’s everything.
“These guys are resilient. We come out here. I get guys from all over the country never knowing what to expect and then we just grind and grind and grind. The big message for us this year was being resilient.”
Oh, that championship feeling! https://t.co/0xIYYq907i pic.twitter.com/I7DT1BHPWB
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) August 12, 2025
—–
The Saguaros responded in the series after losing 12-9 in the opening game of the best-of-three affair Saturday.
After a scoreless first inning, San Rafael took its 4-0 lead in the second, highlighted by an Aki Buckson double that brought Payton Rios home.
Tucson immediately countered with three runs in the bottom of the second. Hal Perez’s double scored Mike Whalen from second. The Saguaros tied the game in the third inning when Whalen singled in Gavy Perez-Torres. They took a 5-4 lead in the fourth when Marquise Wood hit a full-count pitch for a single that scored Perez from third.
The Pacifics retook the lead, 6-5, in the fifth after Wright’s two-out, two-run homer off reliever Blake Garrett.
Garrett responded at the plate in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run triple thet allowed the Saguaros to take a 7-6 lead.
The four insurance runs off four different San Rafael pitchers in the bottom of the eighth included RBI singles by Jacob Elizondo, Perez-Torres and Yan Rivera
Kyle Guerra doubled Wood home from first with two out in the top of the ninth fior the Pacifics within before Paschal struck out John Bicos on three pitches to end the game.
Elizondo had three singles for the Saguaros while Perez-Torres — who had a remarkable play deep at shortstop to get a runner out — added two hits and scored three times with two RBIs.
Garrett earned the win allowing only one run in three innings of relief. Jake Dent, who gave up the two fifth-inning runs to Tucson in relief, was tagged with the loss.
Tucson’s pitching blanked San Rafael over the last four innings after the potent Pacific Division champs scored 31 runs over the first 23 innings of the championship series.
FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!
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.
Recommended for you
