The Amarillo Sod Poodles (13-14, 49-46) defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks (14-13, 45-51), 5-2, on Sunday night at Whataburger Field. A strong effort by the Amarillo pitching staff and a four-run sixth inning led to the victory that split the series with the Hooks and gave the Soddies a winning record for the nine-game road trip.
Hits were in short supply through the first five innings in the series finale as both starters pitched efficiently to begin the night’s action. Avery Short toed the slab for Amarillo, needing only nine pitches to work a 1-2-3 first inning. He kept rolling into the second and third, picking up a strikeout along the way to keep the Hooks off the basepaths as he faced the minimum through the opening trio.
The Soddies appeared to have something working for them in the top of the third after Jesus Valdez checked in with the first hit of the night for either side to put runners on first and second, but a fielder’s choice and a flyout followed, and Amarillo’s scoring woes continued.
An abbreviated start for Short brought Josh Grosz into the game in the bottom of the fourth and the Hooks immediately saw success as each of the first two batters reached base to open the inning. Both runners stole the base in front of them to give the hosts a golden scoring opportunity, but Grosz locked things down on the mound however, striking out each of the next three batters he faced to keep the game at a scoreless tie.
After Cristofer Torin and Jansel Luis both collected knocks that put them at second and third with none out in the sixth, Ben McLaughlin came through with the RBI on a grounder up the middle to break the Soddies’ scoring drought that spanned multiple contests. Alberto Barriga followed suit, singling to bring home another run and Jakey Josepha eventually notched his first Double-A RBI with a hit of his own for the three-run Amarillo lead. After Barriga scored on a wild pitch, the Sod Poodles led 4-0 over the Hooks by the end of the sixth.
The visitors rallied with two outs in the seventh after Junior Franco tripled and scored on McLaughlin’s second RBI single in as many innings to extend the lead. Cameron Sisneros then singled home a run in the bottom of the seventh after Tyler Whitaker broke up the Amarillo no-hit bid with a one-out double. Sisneros scored on an error later in the frame, but the rally was brought to an abrupt end after Angel Ortiz picked up his third outfield assist of the week on a shallow fly ball to right, completing the inning-ending double play in which he threw out Chase Call at the plate trying to tag up from third. Sandro Santana and Blake Cederlind each worked a scoreless inning in the final two frames to cap the 5-2 Sod Poodles win, splitting the series with Corpus Christi.
