For the third straight series, the Sod Poodles went into the final game of a six-game series with a chance to win it. And for the third straight series, they had to settle for a split instead.
That was the case Sunday afternoon at Hodgetown when they were scheduled to conclude their six-game series against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals with a one-game series lead.
They ended up with yet another series split, as the Naturals took the lead with two runs in the fifth inning and went on to win 6-4 to leave Amarillo having evened the series.
It was yet another series where the Sod Poodles (17-22 in the second half of Texas League play) showed flashes of potential yet come up short late in the game on weekends to earn a series victory.
“I think the biggest thing is we play well early in the week then as the week goes on we seem to just not do enough,” Sod Poodles manager Tim Bogar said. “I’m not sure why and if I could put my finger on it I’d change it. We’ve tried different approaches of workload and stuff like that. It is what it is. They played hard all six games so I can’t complain.”
While offense was an occasional struggle in the series, for the most part the Soddies were close in every game. Sunday, they got the upper hand but couldn’t keep it.
They took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Tim Tawa and a sacrifice fly by Caleb Roberts.
Over the next five innings, though, they failed to score and twice had runners thrown out at the plate which could have made a difference in the game.
In the bottom of the fifth, right-hander Joe Elbis, making his second career start of the week at Hodgetown, was pulled with two outs and runners on second and third after hitting the 75-pitch mark.
Gavin Cross greeted Soddies reliever Dillon Larsen with a single to right, driving home two runs and giving the Naturals the lead for good at 4-3.
Northwest Arkansas scored runs in the sixth and seventh to stretch the lead to 6-3. In the bottom of the ninth, Neyfy Castillo led off the inning with a towering home run to left field to cut it to 6-4, but Naturals reliever Anderson Paulino retired the final three Sod Poodles in order to end the game.
“I thought our bats were a lot better from top to bottom in the order,” Bogar said. “I thought we did better as a group in getting our offense together instead of just trying to get our own hits.”
What’s seemed to be the most consistent element in the second half of Texas League play for the Soddies has been their starting pitching. There were two especially strong mound performances against the Naturals.
Thursday night, highly touted right-hander Dylan Ray had the best outing of his Sod Poodles career, retiring 15 of the first 16 hitters he faced and taking a no-hitter into the sixth. He ended up giving up three hits in six innings and got a no-decision as the Sod Poodles won 8-7.
“I thought our starting pitching was outstanding from the first day to the end,” Bogar said. “They gave us a chance. I’m pretty happy with all five guys. I think every time we go out there we’re capable of getting five, six, seven innings no problem. What it does cause is less innings for our bullpen.”
Walking it off
The series began with the first of two extra-inning games, and it had the most satisfying finish, at least as far as the Sod Poodles and the Hodgetown faithful were concerned.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, Roberts singled to right field to drive home two runs and give the Sod Poodles a thrilling 10-9 victory.
Roberts was the sixth batter of the inning and the first to face Northwest Arkansas reliever Brandon Johnson, who inherited the bases-loaded situation from Anthony Simonelli.
A lot had to go right for Roberts to even get a chance to win the game, and he was ready for it.
“I think if you go into that situation not having that mindset, you’re not going to have the outcome you want,” Roberts said. “I was feeling good all night at the plate and I wanted that opportunity to come up with the game on the line. My teammates had great at-bats before me, and I was just following what they were doing. We look at the scouting report and at the end of the day the situation dictates what they’re throwing with the bases loaded, so I was looking for a fastball and put a good swing on it.”
The Sod Poodles trailed 7-5 after Josh Lester and Dillan Shram hit back-to-back solo home runs in the top of the eighth. But the Soddies bounced back to tie it after Kristian Robinson hit a two-out solo homer in the bottom of that inning then tied it in the ninth on an RBI single by A.J. Vukovich.
Northwest Arkansas scored two runs in the top of the 10th to go up 9-7, but the Sod Poodles mounted a rally, and Roberts got the chance to play hero. It was the second two-out walk-off hit for Roberts at Hodgetown this season, as he hit a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth against Frisco on May 18 to pull out a 3-2 victory.
“A walk-off’s a walk-off any chance you get to win the game with the swing of the bat,” Roberts said. “It’s rare just to get that opportunity. We had bases loaded so we didn’t need a home run. Just got a good pitch to hit and focused on barreling it.”
Friday night marked a first for Hodgetown, as the Sod Poodles hosted their first Military Appreciation Night, honoring the men and women who serve or have served in the armed forces.
The evening was co-sponsored by Cornerstone Caregiving and the Veterans Administration in recognizing those who have worn the uniform for their country. Sarah Weede, the commander of VFW Post 2466 in Lubbock, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
“Kelly Lindner of Cornerstone Caregiving reached out to me about whether I wanted to come out to the game tonight and support the first pitch by watching and I didn’t know I was going to be throwing it,” Weede said.
Weede, a native of Lubbock who served in the Air Force, moved back to her hometown after serving in Georgia. She embraced the opportunity to be recognized and recognize other service people during the first time the Sod Poodles dedicated a night to them.
“One thing I love about the Panhandle is it is very veteran friendly,” Weede said. “We don’t have a baseball team in Lubbock so with Amarillo doing this for our veterans and recognizing them it’s pretty amazing. It was really exciting when the VA and Cornerstone set this up.”
Weede was stationed in Georgia for 12 years and has been back in Lubbock for two. She was eager to make the drive north up I-27 to help the cause of military veterans in the area.
While this is the first year the Sod Poodles have hosted such an event, Weede wants to further promote the plight of veterans in the future and market the VFW at Hodgetown.
“They said they were going to do this next year too and I’m hoping that we’ll be back,”
Weede said. “I’m hoping that we can set up a recruiting table for VFW and get some recruiters locally from all of the branches and set up some booths and pass out some information. We did not set up table this time and it was a missed opportunity but we plan on doing it next year.”
Weede’s husband and children came to town for the evening and provided some incentive to make an impression with her first pitch. She threw it high, but still got it over the plate,
“I didn’t know I was going to be throwing it,” Weede said. “I was nervous, but it wasn’t that bad. I did OK so I think I would do it again if asked next year.”
King of the Hill
At the end of Sunday evening, the Sod Poodles had a new all-time strikeout leader, but that was just part of the resume right-hander Jamison Hill has built in his career in Amarillo.
When Hill struck out Cross in the seventh inning, he became the franchise career leader in strikeouts, breaking the tie with Brandon Pfaadt, who’s now starting with the Sod Poodles parent club Arizona Diamondbacks. Hill had been tied with Pfaadt with 180 strikeouts going into the series, and he picked up two more on Sunday to move to 182.
A free agent signee by the Diamondbacks out of Fresno State in 2021, Hill is also the Sod Poodles career leader in starts with 41 and is the Soddies career leader in innings pitched with 210.2.