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Local talent abundant for Pueblo's Spradley Collegians summer baseball team

BY JEFF LETOFSKY | The Pueblo Chieftain | JUN. 1, 2022

Buoyed by local talent, the Pueblo Spradley Collegians baseball team has high hopes for the 2022 summer season.

Led by head coach Tony Pechek, who enters his seventh season as the skipper, the collegians are loaded with talent from throughout the region.

"The purpose is to give the local and Southern Colorado kids a chance to play summer college baseball," Pechek said. "It's always fun getting to see these kids from the time they are young at Runyon to where they are now. I love being a part of that."

The local players include infielders Kyle Jamison, Brandon Martin, Trevor Thomas, outfielders Jayden Cordova, Ryan Downs, Brock Rodrigues, and Jeremiah Sanchez, catcher Justin Borden, pitchers AJ Cordova, Austin Martindale, Nick Parisi, and Zach Thomas, and utility player Louis Martinez.

In addition to the local players, a handful of Colorado State University Pueblo players are on the roster. They include Jamison, Rodrigues and Sanchez, Christian Castadena, and Zach Hannenberg.

Five local prep teams bow into postseason:Pueblo West, Pueblo County earn host berths, 2 other S-CL teams qualify for postseason baseball

"This group is going to have the ability to play defense well and use their speed on the bases to create some electric innings to score some runs," Pechek said. "Pitching is the thinnest we've ever had. We do have some quality arms and hopefully, they can eat up innings so we can have a successful summer.

Spradley's entire schedule, at this point, will be played at the Runyon Sports Complex in the Mile High Collegiate Baseball League. As the season unfolds, road games will be added depending on the availability of pitchers.

"It's cheaper for our opponents to come down here than to pay for umpires and facilities up north," Pechek said. "That's why we have all home games at this point.

"But we'll have some road games as the season goes on. It will all depend on our pitching staff, how many arms we have, and their ability to cover the innings we need."

Regardless, Pechek is excited to be able to coach many of the players he's coached in the past and inject the out-of-town players into the mix.

"We're semi-veteran heavy so we have players who know what to expect," Pechek said. "I've coached a lot of these kids before, so the personality and chemistry should be there for us."

The Pueblo club opens its season on Thursday with a 3 p.m. doubleheader against the NoCo Roughnecks on Hobbs Field. The highlight of the home schedule will be the annual Dollar Beer Night on June 15 which helps kick off the 42nd annual Tony Andenucio Memorial Baseball Tournament at Runyon.

Chieftain senior sports reporter Jeff Letofsky can be reached by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on Twitter @jeffletofsky

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Inside the Runyon Field Sports Complex Part IV

This is the fourth of a six-part series taking an in-depth look at the six fields at the Runyon Field Sports Complex. Chieftain sports writer Austin White will be providing a history of each field as well as how it was named and what events take place on each of the six fields at the complex during the year.

Max Salas Field named after man who gave everything back to the players

BY AUSTIN WHITE | The Pueblo Chieftain | JUL 15, 2018

Pueblo wasn't nicknamed the Steel City just because of the factories that surround the town. The name was earned because of the hard working individuals who worked in those mills and built the city from the ground up.

Nowadays, the steel industry is not quite the same, but that same blue-collar mentality is still alive in every person and every piece of Pueblo.

One of the strongest beams was Max Salas.

"The hardest working man on a baseball field I've ever seen and I've been in the business for 48 years," head CSU-Pueblo baseball coach Stan Sanchez said about Salas. "I've never seen a more driven individual to work with kids to get better."

Salas coached any child who had the slightest itch to play baseball and would work from sunup to sundown, as Sanchez described. On top of it, everything he did was done voluntarily. Salas never asked for any compensation.

However, the same could not be said at the Runyon Sports Complex when the idea of expanding came along in the early 2000s. Former general manager Dave Dudley described the process it took to try to receive grants from the county to help pay for new fields, attempts that started before he even took over in 2005.

With Dudley's help, the complex finally received some money to build and improve the complex. Salas Field was part of that expansion in 2007.

The hard work it took to finally complete the project could only be matched by the passion of Salas. Naming the field after him was a perfect fit.

"What he really did was just help a lot of kids," Dudley said. "He was just a guy that loved baseball and gave it all of his time. Never took a penny for any of it and just helped out, a labor of love."

When Sanchez first became the head coach of the revitalized CSU-Pueblo baseball program in 1994, one of the first people in line to help build the program was Salas. Observing Salas coach and push his players showed Sanchez just what kind of man he was dealing with.  

Through it all, Salas did it because he loved his home of Pueblo. Seeing a successful college baseball program in his town became his main objective. Assisting Sanchez, the ThunderWolves are one of the top programs in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and all of Division II.

"He was a very proud Pueblo man, he had this kind of this steel-man mentality," Sanchez said. "Heck, we were in the World Series in three years and a lot of it had to do with his drive to get our program on the map."

At the CSU-Pueblo Baseball and Softball Academy, Salas did some of his best work with players of all ages. Sanchez said Salas never turned anyone down, including any girl trying to learn the game or practice their softball skills.

Of course, accepting help from Salas was like signing into a full-time commitment. Some of the best coaches are the ones who push their players the hardest and Salas would do that for any player he came into contact with. He worked at any hour.

Expanding past baseball was not only a trait of Salas, but it has become a hallmark for the field named after him in 2008.

Originally the plan with Salas Field was to host Little League baseball games, specifically the 12-and-under division. However, high school softball was having a bit of an identity crisis and could not find a permanant home.

Teams switched back and forth between playing at City Park for home games to CSU-Pueblo's Rawlings Softball Complex.

With all the moving around and uncertainty as to where the high schools would play their fall season, Dudley and his crew at Runyon offered their fields for the Pueblo-area high schools. Starting in 2011, Runyon became the home field for every Pueblo high school softball team.

The move wasn't only good for the players and schools, but it had financial benefits for the district as well. Dudley described how softball at Runyon actually brings in more money (at the gate) than baseball.

The timing also was excellent for softball due to the increased costs of managing the fields. With youth baseball and softball increasing at Runyon, the infield grass on Corsentino, DiIorio and Salas fields were getting ripped apart faster than the grounds crew could put it back together.

Instead of continuing to pay for upkeep of grass, Dudley and the Runyon brass decided to remove it completely from all three fields. That opened the door for softball since grass infields are not part of the game.

"We couldn't keep the grass good anyway, it was getting bad," Dudley said. "Softball was kind of a warm welcome."

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"Having a field named after him, I would think he would be really humble about it and probably give everybody credit around him because that's the kind of man he was."
STAN SANCHEZ
CSU-PUEBLO HEAD BASEBALL COACH

Not to mention that Salas Field was farthest away from the center of the complex and getting access to hoses to wet down the field and other tasks was a hassle.

Putting in more work than expected was the way Salas lived his life. Sanchez touched on that when he spoke at the naming ceremony in 2008 reflecting on the life of his good friend.

"He was like another father to me, he took care of me and my family since I was from California and didn't know anybody," Sanchez said. "Having a field named after him, I would think he would be really humble about it and probably give everybody credit around him because that's the kind of man he was."

Salas passed away in 2007. Having his name displayed high above the diamond is more than just a few blue letters on a white sign. It means an opportunity for young players to become the best they can be.

"I think the field in Max's name, in my mind, is a field of opportunity for kids to get better through him and his name as far as what it takes to be a player," Sanchez said. "He represented Pueblo because obviously Pueblo is a blue-collar town and that was Max. I think his field kind of represents that."

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Inside the Runyon Field Sports Complex Part V

This is the fifth of a six-part series taking an in-depth look at the six fields at the Runyon Field Sports Complex. Chieftain sports writer Austin White will be providing a history of each field as well as how it was named and what events take place on each of the six fields at the complex during the year.

Pusedu Field was the last field built at the complex to serve the little guys, gals

BY AUSTIN WHITE | The Pueblo Chieftain | JUL 21, 2018

No professional athlete has ever been born into a sport. They had to grow up and discover their passion for their craft and see if their love for the game outweighed the demanding tasks of the sport becoming their full-time job.

All of these athletic dreams had to start somewhere and for baseball and softball players in Pueblo, that fantasy is not stuck in the clouds of a dream. The Runyon Sports Complex is a place for them to uncover their passion for the game.

Maybe the jumping off point for any child in Pueblo has become Ray Pusedu Field at Runyon. It is where youngsters mold their craft playing 8-and-under baseball/softball and also 10-and-under softball.

Carving out the space between Hobbs and Andenucio fields wasn't always an easy task. Part of what led up to having the spot was clearing out some old benches from when Hobbs hosted minor league baseball.

"That (Ray Pusedu Field) was kind of my dream field. That piece of land was just sitting there not being used so we were able to take advantage of it and its been a great thing...I love that little field."
DAVE DUDLEY
FORMER RUNYON FIELD GENERAL MANAGER

One man who was at the forefront of making changes to Runyon, not only in the office, but to the actual physical complex, was Ray Pusedu.

Dudley described how Pusedu helped move out those bleachers and contributed to several projects during his tenure on the Runyon Field board.

"He had a lot of muscle to get some things done down here," Dudley said. "He did a lot of good down here, thus that's kind of why the field was named for him."

Pusedu had been around Runyon since before the place even became a complex. He started helping out when Hobbs was the only field there and Andenucio and Corsentino fields were parking lots.

Receiving the honor of having the field named after him was something Pusedu didn't want to take credit for. He deflected all praise to his fellow former board members and also spoke highly of the work being done now by Dudley and his crew.

As described in the Andenucio Field story a few weeks ago, Pusedu donated his time to helping create those two new fields. Whether it was mowing the grass with his own tractor or picking up rocks for three weeks, Pusedu wanted to help create something Pueblo could be proud of.

"When I go down there I'm amazed because when we were down there it was one field," Pusedu said. "That complex is as good as any in the country for kids."

Certainly the people of Pueblo have fallen in love with Runyon, which now has six fields. Pusedu Field was completed in 2012.

Almost every home high school baseball and softball game is held at the complex and summer tournaments bring in teams from across the nation.

Speaking of tournaments, Pusedu helps sponsor a tournament at his field held over Memorial Day weekend at Runyon every year. He gave money to the complex to help buy rings for the championship team, a glove for the best fielder and a bat for one of the top hitters.

"You can hear (people at Pusedu Field) hollering blocks and blocks away from excitement," Dudley said about the tournament. "It's pretty cool for the little guys. It makes you want to be little."

Added Pusedu: "My next door neighbor played (in the tournament) and his team won the tournament. He came running and jumped over my fence in the back yard and came running to show me his ring. They really think that's something."

As for the field, it is all turf, complementing the idea of teaching young players the right fundamentals. Dudley believes in the theory where players learn good habits due to bad hops, so a turf field is the perfect way to give the players good practice.

With the fence sitting at 125 feet in left and center fields and 120 feet in right field, the lofty goal of a hitting a home run is still very much in reach for the youngsters.

The shorter porch in right field was due to a road running behind the field, forcing a little bit shorter distance. Dudley said he and the builders threw around the idea of turning the right field fence into a "Green Monster," like Boston's famed wall, but the added costs of engineering a taller fence didn't make sense.

The field is a very unique place for the young players and it is cozy for teams coming from out of town to play in tournaments.

Dudley said they usually open the field for teams to take infield work during the busy tournament times. That allows teams an opportunity to take grounders or fly balls in a small space.

Fly balls are something fans need to be aware of at Pusedu Feld, however. Similarly to Corsentino Field, the bleachers are not around home plate like a normal field. Instead, they are placed in the outfield and down the foul lines.

Not only does it help with the philosophy of giving space for coaches to coach, but it is also necessary to avoid fans getting hit by foul balls from Hobbs or Andenucio fields. Dudley said they have to remind people quite a bit and it has become somewhat of a point of contention at times.

No matter what goes on outside of the fence, the mission is to give kids a place to play a game and inspire dreams.

"I think the people of Pueblo can be proud of (Runyon)," Pusedu said. "And it keeps a bunch of kids off the street and stuff. Instead of hanging out on the corner getting in trouble, they are down at Runyon staying out of it."

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Inside the Runyon Field Sports Complex Part VI

This is the final part of a six-part series taking an in-depth look at the six fields at the Runyon Field Sports Complex. Chieftain sports writer Austin White will be providing a history of each field as well as how it was named and what events take place on each of the six fields at the complex during the year.

If those bleachers could talk: The 80-year history of Hobbs Field

BY AUSTIN WHITE | The Pueblo Chieftain | JUL 29, 2018

Sometimes the smallest of actions can create an immeasurable change. Lending your ear to listen to someone in pain or holding a door for someone with their hands full.

These small actions mostly go unnoticed, but they can change perspectives and give hope to individuals who received the gestures.

And one tiny change occurred in 1934 in Pueblo that would turn this city into the baseball-loving town that it has become. A group of Puebloans moved some bleachers over to an unnamed field to watch a game and now, 80 years later, that field has turned into one of the greatest sites for baseball in the entire country, and, more importantly, one of Pueblo's best places of community.

"These are the things that Hobbs brings to you, the history, the memories," former Runyon Sport Complex general manager Joe Latino said. "When I was kid playing ball in high school, playing at Hobbs and the memories in the summer of playing at Hobbs, those are the great things that bring the Pueblo lore."

Hobbs Field at the Runyon Sports Complex is one of the most historic spots in all of Pueblo. Following the movement of the bleachers in 1934, the field was officially established in 1938 as County Park and Babe Ruth famously played an exhibition game in the same year.

The game must have gone over well with the Bambino because the field received a minor league team three years later in 1941. They played one season before World War II broke out, but a Class A team would come back in 1948 for 11 years of ball in Pueblo.

Being an affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers, some legendary players made the trip through Pueblo like Sparky Anderson, Preston Ward, Roger Craig and even the famous manager Walter Alston, to name a few.

Several more bleachers were added around the field from the initial movement in 1934. The Pueblo Dodgers averaged a total of 92,000 fans a year for around 80 home games and drew over one million fans in the 11-year span under the Dodgers organization.

Before the league really started to get going though, Pueblo had its eyes on one of its own in the form of Damon Runyon. The sports reporter/playwrite grew up in the Steel City and covered sports across many Colorado newspapers, including The Pueblo Chieftain

His work eventually took him to New York where he covered the New York Giants baseball team and eventually started writing poems and plays, some of which appeared on Broadway.

"Back in the day, (Hobbs field) was an opportunity for us because of the fact we didn't have resources to go to games very often," Latino said. "Knowing the history of Damon Runyon and what he was and the fact that he was raised in Pueblo and ended up in the baseball writers hall of fame (gave us hope)."

Being an affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers, some legendary players made the trip through Pueblo like Sparky Anderson, Preston Ward, Roger Craig and even the famous manager Walter Alston, to name a few.

Several more bleachers were added around the field from the initial movement in 1934. The Pueblo Dodgers averaged a total of 92,000 fans a year for around 80 home games and drew over one million fans in the 11-year span under the Dodgers organization.

Before the league really started to get going though, Pueblo had its eyes on one of its own in the form of Damon Runyon. The sports reporter/playwrite grew up in the Steel City and covered sports across many Colorado newspapers, including The Pueblo Chieftain

His work eventually took him to New York where he covered the New York Giants baseball team and eventually started writing poems and plays, some of which appeared on Broadway.

"Back in the day, (Hobbs field) was an opportunity for us because of the fact we didn't have resources to go to games very often," Latino said. "Knowing the history of Damon Runyon and what he was and the fact that he was raised in Pueblo and ended up in the baseball writers hall of fame (gave us hope)."

Clearing out the minor league stands made way for the new direction of Runyon Field, which was to host numerous baseball events for Pueblo, specifically for children. National tournaments were held at Runyon in 1976 and 1991 as a part of Babe Ruth little leagues and the field became the home for every Pueblo team.

Hosting those events did not always mean profits though. Several times throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, the field faced the potential of being shut down. Every time that came up, however, the people of Pueblo stood up for the field and kept the mystique alive.

"It was mostly us kids, we walked around the neighborhood with cans collecting money to save the field, so it's been through a lot of steps," said Dave Dudley, former Runyon general manager.

Runyon could not be closed because of the way it has woven itself into the fabric of Pueblo's culture. Sitting in the bleachers around Hobbs Field is almost as big of a pastime as the game fans watch. One can't grow up in Pueblo without spending some time at Runyon watching a ball game because it is more than just that.

Those seats give a place for community to happen, for friends and family to unwind and connect over the course of seven or so innings. Even some of the biggest names in the sport have come by to take a seat, including the greats like Yogi Berra and Ernie Banks.

"I remember Tippy Martinez, who pitched for the Orioles, he was from La Junta and he beat the Boulder Collegians and I think he hit the home run that (won them the game)," Dudley describes as one of his best memories at Hobbs. "There is just so many things."

For the boys who played on it growing up, the field was their main stage and gave them a glimpse into what it took to be like one of the pro players who crossed those lines. And their families were always behind the fence to cheer them on.

"I think some of the great memories for me are when I was playing ball and my mother and father would come to game and I could hear my mom above everyone else cheering," Latino said. "Whether it was playing the game or having a hot dog and just talking. Those are the memories that mean a lot to me."

Not only has it become a beacon for Puebloans, but the entire complex is a home to some of the best youth baseball in the country.

The biggest example is the yearly Tony Andenucio Memorial Tournament, which brings in high school teams from all over the country. The 39th rendition took place in June and the tournament is held on Hobbs and Andenucio fields.

"These are the things that Hobbs brings to you, the history, the memories. When I was kid playing ball in high school, playing at Hobbs and the memories in the summer of playing at Hobbs, those are the great things that bring the Pueblo lore."
JOE LATINO
FORMER RUNYON GENERAL MANAGER

That could be what caused the right field wall to be double the height of the rest of the fence. Dudley said he was unsure as to why that was built that way. The wall is only 250 feet from home plate compared to the 270-foot dimension to left field side. The taller fence in right field made it tougher to hit home runs.

DiIorio Field also is the only field at the complex where the three outfield dimensions are different. Center field measures 290 feet while every other field has at least two dimensions that are the same.

Having a field built for just one or two divisions of baseball would be somewhat of a waste though, which is why the field has also become a softball hub in Pueblo. Along with Max Salas Field and Corsentino Field, they provide a haven for high school softball and host all Pueblo-area home games, except for Pueblo West.

The transition is simple as the grounds crew placeing portable fences across the outfield to match the 230-feet distance at Salas Field.

With the high school season set to begin in August, the field is just over a month away from beginning the fall season and once again welcome softball fans from around the city back to their gathering place at DiIorio Field.

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