The Amarillo Sod Poodles improved to 11-12 with a 10-2 victory over the Midland RockHounds on Wednesday night at Momentum Bank Ballpark, highlighted by the first cycle in franchise history and a dominant all-around performance that snapped a brief skid and continued their recent strong stretch.
Amarillo opened the scoring in the first inning when Gavin Conticello doubled with one out and advanced on a wild pitch before Angel Ortiz lifted a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to bring him home for an early lead, though Midland answered later in the frame when Ryan Lasko tripled and scored on a balk.
Amarillo regained momentum in the third inning as Junior Franco walked and stole second before Druw Jones drove a ball into the right-center gap for a triple that scored Franco, followed by a sacrifice fly from Cristofer Torin that added another run.
Sod Poodles starter Josh Grosz collected multiple strikeouts while working into the middle innings, and Amarillo extended its lead in the fifth when Torin singled in a run during a bases-loaded situation, followed by Conticello delivering a two-run single that pushed the margin to 6-1.
Reliever Antonio Menendez stabilized the game out of the bullpen, retiring hitters efficiently across two scoreless innings with groundouts and a strikeout to maintain control for Amarillo heading into the late stages.
Midland managed a run in the seventh, but the eighth inning belonged to Amarillo as Druw Jones completed the first cycle in team history with a two-run home run to right-center, and Torin followed immediately with a solo homer to extend the lead to double digits.
