Curley Tosses Gem as Soddies Outlast Travelers in 11 Innings

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR (August 5, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (20-15, 56-47) defeated the Arkansas Travelers (16-19, 57-47), 5-2, in 11 innings on Wednesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. In their 16th extra-innings contest this season, the Soddies emerged victorious for the eighth time in their last nine games and now stand alone atop the Texas League Second Half standings in the South Division.

In the opening frame of the pitchers duel, Brian Curley toed the slab for the Soddies and caught Jonny Farmelo looking at strike three to begin his evening. After the Soddies went down in order in the second, Boston Smith launched his first home run as a Traveler to lead off the bottom half to put the hosts on the board.

Both starters battled through the third and fourth innings as they posted consecutive 1-2-3 frames to keep it a one-run ballgame. The fifth was not much different as each side had a runner reach base, but outs on the basepaths allowed each pitcher to once again face the minimum required to get through the inning unscathed.

Looking for a spark, Jordan Lawlar stepped into the box with two outs in the top of the sixth in his second game on rehab assignment and quickly stole second without a throw. That was enough for Jansel Luis to come through with a knock to right field that brought Lawlar around from second to score the tying run.

Charlie Pagliarini tested the arm of Angel Ortiz in the sixth as the second baseman tried to turn his single to right into a hustle double, but Ortiz collected the assist on the play by throwing him out at second to lead off what would be a three-up, three-down inning for Curley. The righty came back out for the seventh and once again cruised through the frame to cap the longest start by an Amarillo pitcher this season.
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Alfred Morillo* took over for the Soddies out of the bullpen in the eighth and despite allowing the go-ahead run to reach second base, he recorded two strikeouts to finish the inning and keep the game at a 1-1 tie. He came back on for the ninth and worked efficiently to send the game to extras.

Angel Ortiz successfully laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Druw Jones, the placement runner at second, up 90 feet. In the following at-bat, Alberto Barriga doubled to left to give the Soddies their first lead of the night and the one-run advantage going into the bottom half. Arkansas would not balk at the deficit, however, as Josh Caron stole third for the Travs and scored on a Jared Sundstrom sac fly to force the 11th.

Luis cashed in his second RBI knock of the night with one away in the 11th and was followed by Ben McLaughlin who singled to bring home another run. Later in the frame, a wild pitch allowed Luis to score, giving Amarillo enough of an edge for Sawyer Hawks to finish the job and earn the 5-2 win.

POSTGAME NOTES

LARRY, BRIAN CURLEY, & MOE: Turning in the longest start of the year by a Sod Poodle this evening was Brian Curley as the Diamondbacks’ 14th-ranked prospect tossed seven one-run innings while striking out five batters...it is the longest start of his professional career and he becomes one of only five Soddies in club history to go 7.0 IP against Arkansas.

I’M McLAUGHLIN IT: Since July 26, Ben McLaughlin has hit safely in 8-of-9 games and is batting .389 (14x36) with a .978 OPS...his August is off to a good start and marks the anniversary of his promotion to Double-A a year ago...in August 2025, he batted .344 (22x64) with a 1.002 OPS in 18 games.