Strong pitching leads Fu to season-opening wi
Starter Carter, two relievers allow just 9 hits in rout of White Sands
Fuego fans were promised better pitching and a more competitive team this season. On opening night, the team delivered.
Behind six-plus strong innings from starting pitcher Zach Carter and quality relief from two others, Santa Fe opened the 2017 Pecos League season Wednesday night with a 9-1 rout of visiting White Sands at Fort Marcy Ballpark.
Carter carried a shutout through five innings and exited with one out in the seventh, giving way to New Mexico Highlands graduate Dylan Norris. Carter (1-0) got the win, surrendering just six hits and one earned run in 6⅓ innings. He struck out six and walked two.
“I was 50/50 about coming back this year, but TJ [Zarewicz, Fuego manager] told me the team would be better and I’d have more support,” Carter said. “I could see it right away from that first day of spring training. Things are different, and you see the results in this one.”
Throwing mostly fastballs, Carter cruised through the first four innings on just three hits. He worked out of a two-out jam in the fifth and finally gave up a run with two outs in the sixth.
It was the Fuego’s best outing by a starting pitcher since July 13, 2015, when Francisco Rodriguez carried a shutout two outs into the ninth inning in a win at Las Vegas, N.M. Not once did Santa Fe hold an opponent to fewer than two runs all of last season when it gave up an average of 11.7 runs per game.
White Sands had nine hits but stranded 11 runners.
“What can you say about the effort Zach gave? I mean, he’s a strike thrower, and that’s exactly why I wanted him out there on the mound for our first game,” Zarewicz said.
Norris made his professional debut in the seventh, relieving Carter after Carter had reached his pitch limit. With his nerves racing, Norris said he leaned on the advice he got from his dad years ago to settle into his routine.
“I was told a long time ago that when you go out there, don’t think, just throw, that the adrenaline is going to happen and the butterflies
will be there,” he said. “At the end of the day you get to do what you’ve done for such a long time, and at this point it’s habit.”
Norris also came through at the plate. After inheriting a 4-1 lead, he laid down a perfect suicide squeeze with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. It was followed by an RBI fielder’s choice by Nick Gotta to make it 6-1.
Matt Telesco helped put the game out of reach in the next inning with a three-run double to close out the scoring. He had
two hits on the night while David Stone and Aaron Stubblefield each had three. Gotta and Matt Haskins batted 1-2 in the order, each driving in a pair of runs.
Haskins broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with a 2-run homer to center field. He led the Fuego with 22 home runs last season and was the only player to go deep in the launching pad that is Fort Marcy.
“It makes such a difference when you’ve got a quality team behind you in a place like this,” Carter said. “Keep the ball down and hit your spots. Let the guys make plays for you. Simple.”
The paid attendance was 857, making it one of the better opening nights in team history. The Fuego opened with four games on the road last season and stumbled out of the gate with five straight losses en route to a 3-13 record less than three weeks in.
While it’s far too early to make any bold statements, Zarewicz said things couldn’t have gone any
better on a perfect night for baseball.
“Really, I can’t say anything more about this first game than it couldn’t have gone any better,” he said. “It’s a great first step.”
Bruised backstop: Will Charkowsky got the start at catcher for the Fuego after regular starter Eric Maria, the team’s top hitter last season, got into town late Tuesday from his home in the Dominican Republic.
Charkowsky was 1-for-1 in five plate appearances. His other four trips resulted in him getting drilled by a pitch. He was the only player in the game to reach base five times, albeit in a painful way.
The final time he was hit was in the eighth inning. Clearly frustrated at that point, he flipped his bat to the ground before taking the 90-foot jog to first.
“Will’s a big, strong guy and he can take it,” Zarewicz said. “The idea was to get Eric an at bat late in the game just to give him a taste, but let Will get that first game behind the plate.”
Boss man: League Commissioner Andrew Dunn attended Wednesday’s game, making a point to go down to the field to welcome back familiar umpires David Crawford and Eddie Padilla. The men in blue took last season off after Dunn said Crawford was banned from the league and Padilla had retired.