Tucson Saguaros manager Sean McNeill discusses the 2023 season and the team’s prospects for the playoffs, which begin Tuesday night at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium vs. Garden City. Video by Michael Lev/Arizona Daily Star

I’m headed to Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium to write about the Tucson Saguaros, our city’s representative in the independent Pecos League. I’m meeting Laura Martin, the team’s host family coordinator, game day operations manager and so much more.

She tells me to meet her at the “novelty shop.” I find her standing behind a glass counter in a large room down the first base line. She sports a green Saguaros jersey and a welcoming smile. If you’re looking to buy tickets, or a Saguaros hat or T-shirt, this is the place.

Laura summons her husband, David, to escort me to one of the other fields at the Kino Sports Complex, where the team is taking batting practice.

David Martin, a friendly, funny middle-aged man, is listed as the Saguaros’ groundskeeper. I ask him what he does around here.

“Anything and everything,” he says as we stroll across the complex on a sunny, sizzling Thursday evening.

We arrive at Field 3, where a familiar sound rings out. It’s the steady thump of wood bats striking baseballs. Only it isn’t a coach throwing BP; it’s an active player, Brock Ephan, who will start that night at third base and go 3 for 5 in a weather-prolonged 12-10 victory.

Brock Ephan of the Tucson Saguaros slides in with a two-RBI triple against Roswell in the eighth inning, padding Tucson's lead at Kino Sports Complex on July 29.

I speak to a couple of players, outfielder Steve Joyner and pitcher Jaymon Cervantes, before sitting down for 20-plus minutes with fourth-year manager Sean McNeill. Before we talk, McNeill sets down a stack of uniforms for the players to grab before they head over to the ballpark. He reminds them to take the jerseys with their numbers on them, not just whatever is atop the pile.

McNeill tells me about his team and his background. At one point, he acknowledges the super fan who has ambled over, a man everyone calls “Cowboy,” who looks as if he just arrived from the Tucson Rodeo. McNeill gushes about Laura Martin, who handles just about every important off-field task, saying he’s not sure the team “would survive without her.” McNeill says I also have to talk to Erik Novak, the president and founder of the Saguaros’ booster club, who, along with McNeill, plays a vital role in making sure the players have what David Martin describes as “a little spending money in your pocket.”

After meeting all those people and concluding my interview with McNeill, we walk back to the stadium. And all I can think is: It takes a village to run an independent baseball club.

Tucson Saguaros director of game day operations Laura Martin bandages an ice pack on Roswell shortstop Colton Adams, who was sporting a large bruise from taking two pitches in the ribs earlier in the week, just before the second game of weekend series at Kino Sports Complex on July 28. Game two was called on account of weather a short time later.

Challenges and goals

The Saguaros finished the regular season with a 34-13 record, best in the Mountain Division and second best in the Pecos League. They open postseason play Tuesday night at Kino with Game 1 of a best-of-3 quarterfinal series against the Garden City Wind — one of many clever, quirky team names in the Pecos League. My top three: the Austin Weirdos, Bakersfield Train Robbers and Vallejo Seaweed.

McNeill, 33, has the Saguaros in a good spot as he seeks his third league championship in four years. A former pitcher from Riverside, New Jersey, McNeill began coaching in the mid-2010s. He had prior stints with the Hollywood Stars, Ruidoso Osos and High Desert Yardbirds. Heading into 2020, he had an opportunity to manage the Saguaros or the Roswell Invaders. His girlfriend, Stephanie Moore, is originally from Tucson.

“So I didn’t have a choice,” McNeill says, laughing.

Tucson Saguaros manager Sean McNeill gets the ground rules from the umpiring crew during the pre-game plate meeting before first pitch against Roswell for a late-season Pecos League matchup at Kino Sports Complex on July 27.

When he isn’t coaching the Saguaros — which involves a lot more than just coaching them — McNeill works as an escrow specialist for Cenlar FSB, a mortgage bank. He used to operate a forklift for FedEx. Just about everyone associated with the Saguaros also has a day job.

Unlike most, McNeill gets paid a decent wage, about $500 a week during the Pecos League season, which runs from late May through early August.

McNeill sometimes distributes some of his earnings to his players if the booster club’s fundraising — via donations, 50/50 raffles and whatever else Novak can come up with — falls short.

“I know how hard it is,” McNeil says. “They just don’t get much money here. I want them to make at least ... $40 per week so they get something.”

You read that right. The players get $40 per week. Not per hour. Not per game. Per week.

That’s ... not very much. In today’s economy, you’re lucky to get two meals for $40.

The team also travels to road games — all requiring trips to other states — via carpool. Hotels are paid for; meals and gas are not.

Tucson Saguaros pitcher Kristian Samarano (29) finds a corner to pursue his phone as Tucson and Roswell wait out a weather delay in the fifth inning of their Pecos League game at Kino Sports Complex on July 27

So why do these guys do this? Why do they move across the country, sleep in bunkbeds with host families and play for basically nothing?

I asked that question of everyone I met, and I received two consistent answers: They still love baseball, and they aren’t ready to give up their dream of making it to the majors.

“We all have that same goal,” Cervantes says. “This is just a place where we can begin that path.”

Cervantes caught and pitched for Empire High School. He was a full-time pitcher at Minot State, a Division II school in North Dakota. He didn’t play for almost four years after his college career ended. He spent that time coaching at Sahuaro High, working as a personal trainer and getting his body and mind right for a comeback.

McNeill saw Cervantes throw at a tryout in Scottsdale this past spring for the Pioneer League, another independent outfit. Now the right-hander is the Saguaros’ winningest pitcher.

“When I stopped playing, I didn’t want to stop,” Cervantes says. “I still had the love for it. I just wanted to give it another try, felt like my body was ready to go. So I got up and did it.”

A handful of players from the Pecos League have made it all the way to MLB. They include Yermin Mercedes, who played for the White Sox and Giants from 2020-22. Pitcher Duncan Snider, who played for the Saguaros in 2021, is in the Padres organization.

Surrounded by storm clouds, Tucson Saguaros pitcher Jaymon Cervantes (41) watches an Arizona Diamondbacks game on his phone, killing time during a weather delay to his start of a Pecos League game against Roswell at Kino Sports Complex on July 29. Cervantes, an Empire High grad, was originally slated to start Friday’s game, which was called for weather before it started.

Hosting and dreaming

Cervantes is one of only three players on the Saguaros roster who’s from Tucson. The others are fellow pitchers Travis Cole of Sahuaro — whose Honda Accord “has taken most of the beating on road trips,” Cervantes says — and Kristian Samorano of Tucson High.

Cervantes has his own apartment. The out-of-town players, who come here from as far away as Tokyo, stay with host families.

The Martins are one of those families. They first hosted three players, then four, now eight.

“Maybe nine,” Laura Martin says. “I’ve lost count.”

The Martins have a three-bedroom house in the Midvale Park neighborhood. They also have an RV that can sleep four.

The couple are empty-nesters. Laura saw a news story in 2017 about the Saguaros’ perpetual need for host families and thought it would be fun.

“It just evolved into bigger responsibilities,” she says. “We love it. We’ve got kids all over the world.”

Host families provide a place for players to sleep, eat and do their laundry. Martin sometimes gives her “kids” gas money. Novak, the booster club leader, recently loaned a player his car for a road trip. The players reciprocate by toting groceries and taking out the trash.

Laura teaches first grade at Esperanza Elementary School; before that, she was a surgical nurse. When she says, “I’m able to stop the bleeding,” she means it literally.

David works in the parts department for La Mesa RV. Novak is a vice president and general manager at 4D Technology, whose customers include NASA.

Asked some version of the same question — Why did you get involved with the Saguaros? — the Martins and Novak gave some version of the same answer.

Says David Martin: “Gotta help the guys follow their dreams. They’re all our boys.”

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Contact senior sports reporter/columnist Michael Lev at mlev@tucson.com. On Twitter: @michaeljlev