This past weekend, the Soddies finished a two-week homestand by giving everyone a snapshot of what their season has been like from top to bottom.
Sunday evening, one night after a thrilling ninth-inning rally to beat the Arkansas Travelers, the Sod Poodles had a chance to earn another series split for which they’ve become known in the second half of Texas League play.
That went by the boards when Arkansas took the lead with two runs in the top of the fifth, never looking back and handing the Sod Poodles a 12-5 defeat to leave Hodgetown with a 4-2 series victory.
It wasn’t as if the Sod Poodles (25-31 in second half of TL) didn’t have their chances against the Travelers. The problem was, the Soddies didn’t do the most with them, as they stranded 12 men on base.
“It’s true we didn’t score enough runs, but you can’t give up 12 runs,” Sod Poodles manager Tim Bogar said. “You’ve got to throw strikes and we walked too many guys tonight. We struggled with guys on base, but we had a lot of opportunities and that’s a positive. Being able to cash in on those is very important.”
Coupled with a 3-2 series win at Hodgetown over Corpus Christi a week earlier, the Sod Poodles finished their longest homestand of the season 5-6. That’s not what they were looking for when it started, as they now sit 9 ½ games behind Midland in the second half of the Texas League South Division standings with only 12 games left to play.
The good news is that the Sod Poodles control their own destiny as they start a six-game series at Midland on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. However, they’ll have to take at least five of six from the RockHounds to have a mathematical chance to win the division when they return home to Hodgetown the next week to close the regular season against Frisco.
Even then, chances are the Soddies would have to win out and get a lot of help to overtake Midland.
Wednesday, they trailed by four runs going into the bottom of the seventh, but picked up eight runs, highlighted by new addition Christian Cerda’s three-run double to spark an 11-6 win.
“The biggest thing is these guys don’t quit,” Bogar said. “They’re playing all 27 outs and they’re out there trying to win games with a little time left and try to make an impression going into next year. “I’ve been pleased with their effort and how they go about it. We just come up short every once in a while.”
That was the case Sunday. The Sod Poodles took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first when Neyfy Castillo led off with a triple to left then scored on a single by Gino Groover in his first Double-A at-bat, after he was promoted from Hillsboro by the big-league parent club Arizona Diamondbacks.
Groover went to second on an error in left field, advanced to third on a fly ball to center by Caleb Roberts and scored on a wild pitch to give the Sod Poodles an early lead. Problem was, they went scoreless over the next five innings.
In that time, Arkansas got to Soddies starter Dylan Ray. Cole Young hit a two-run blast to left-center off Ray to give the Travelers a 4-2 lead and they never trailed again. Jake Anchia hit a three-run opposite field homer to right in the top of the ninth to cap the scoring for Arkansas.
“That’s the thing with our pitching is don’t break, and there were a couple of games where we did break,” Bogar said.
Getting into the Groover
The biggest silver lining of Sunday, and perhaps the series, was Groover’s auspicious Hodgetown debut. Ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the Diamondbacks system, Groover showed why at the plate from the moment he stepped on the field.
Groover, a second round pick out of North Carolina State in 2023, singled in each of his first three at-bats, and led off the bottom of the ninth with an opposite field double to right and eventually scored the last run of the game for the Sod Poodles. That gave him a 4-for-5 debut which will be hard to top over the final 12 games of the season.
“As you keep going up you can’t worry about that stuff and just keep playing your game,” Groover said. “The pitchers that come out here are around the zone so I try to be aggressive in my zone. I took four pretty good swings today.”
Groover became the latest Diamondback prospect to get the promotion from Hillsboro to more hitter friendly Amarillo and he immediately recognized the benefits.
“It’s way better,” Groover said. “Hillsboro is a big park and the air is thicker and the ball doesn’t travel. Coming down here the ball flies and the air’s a little thinner. I’m excited to go out there, play loose, play free and be myself.”
In 40 games at Hillsboro, Groover hit .272 with seven homers and 25 RBIs.
When Bogar arrived for his first game in a Sod Poodles uniform, Bogar placed him in the No. 3 spot in the lineup. Groover made that move pay off immediately.
“Gino Groover is a professional and you can’t say that about a lot of younger kids,” Bogar said. “You watch him go about it and it’s pretty special. He knows how to hit and now he’s going to grow into his body and experience will make him better. I’m excited to have him these last 12 games.”
Vukovich honored
The week began with Soddies outfielder A.J. Vukovich being honored for the previous week’s series against Corpus Christi, as he was named the Texas League Player of the Week. Vukovich hit .409 for that week, with two homers, two doubles, a triple and six RBIs. He had multi-hit games in four of the five games in the series with an RBI in each game.