RoughRiders Outlast Sod Poodles in Game 1 Thriller

AMARILLO, TX (September 15, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (0-1) fell to the Frisco RoughRiders (1-0), 8-7, in 10 innings on Tuesday night at HODGETOWN in Game 1 of the Texas League South Division Series. Although the Sod Poodles put together a four-run comeback in the eighth and ninth innings to send the game to extras, Frisco ultimately outlasted Amarillo to take a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three series.

After a scoreless first inning, Gleider Figuereo led off the top of the second with a solo home run, and following a walk to Malcolm Moore, Paxton Kling deposited the second long ball of the inning onto the right field berm to give the RoughRiders a 3-0 lead.

The Soddies went hitless through their first seven plate appearances against Curry, but Alberto Barriga roped a leadoff double off the left field wall in the bottom of the third inning. Cristofer Torin cashed in the scoring chance by sending a two-out, two-strike fastball that caught too much plate into center field to put Amarillo on the board.

Sanchez faced the minimum in the top of the third, but was hurt by a throwing error charged to Ben McLaughlin that allowed the leadoff man to reach base to start the fourth inning. A Kling double and Wagner RBI single followed to put Frisco back up by three runs.

McLaughlin made up for the defensive miscue by throwing out Kling at home plate for the first out. Alfred Morillo then came in to pitch and retired the top two batters in the RoughRiders lineup to strand a pair of runners. McLaughlin matched the Frisco run in the home half of the frame by unloading on a belt-high 2-1 offering for a long solo homer.

Logan Mercado entered with a clean inning in the fifth and was brilliant across his 2.0 innings of relief, successfully keeping Amarillo within two runs. Avery Owusu-Asiedu cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth with an opposite-field dinger.

Leandro Lopez and Joe Ariola traded zeroes in both ends of the seventh inning, but the RoughRiders were finally able to break through against the Amarillo bullpen in the top of the eighth. Southpaw Tayler Montiel climbed the hill for the frame and immediately put himself in a jam after a base hit and two hit batsmen. A one-out liner off the bat of Marcus Lee Sang was overran by Angel Ortiz, resulting in a two-run double, and a two-out single by Rafe Perich plated the third Frisco run of the frame to put the visitors ahead by four.

However, the Sod Poodles clawed their way back into the game right away, beginning with a walk to Owusu-Asiedu and an Ortiz single to open the bottom of the eighth which set up AOA to score on a wild pitch. A fielding error by Perich at the hot corner allowed Ortiz to trot home before Jean Walters drove in another run on his sacrifice fly two batters later.

Torin turned an inning-ending double play on a lineout to prevent Frisco from adding insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Torin then drew a walk to begin Amarillo’s last licks before Owusu-Asiedu traded places with him on a forceout. Southpaw Josh Trentadue entered to try and slam the door, but walked AOA into scoring position, setting him up to score the tying run on Druw Jones’ base knock down the left field line.

In the top of the 10th, a bunt single by Luke Hanson put runners on the corners with one out. Left-hander Carlos Rey induced a Dylan Dreiling strikeout for the second out, but threw a wild pitch that allowed Max Wagner to score the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the 10th, a Walters sac bunt put the tying run 90 feet from home. A walk to Danny Serretti would bring up Torin and Owusu-Asiedu against Jonathan Brand, whom both hit fly balls to right that landed in Dreiling’s glove to secure a RoughRiders win.

POSTGAME NOTES

AOA-OK: Scoring three runs tonight was Avery Owusu-Asiedu...he is one of two Sod Poodles all-time to score three times in a postseason game, joining Michael Reed who did so on September 10, 2019 in Amarillo’s 13-6 win over the Tulsa Drillers in game 1 of the Championship Series that season.
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ROAD WARRIORS:* Amarillo fell to 2-7 in playoff games at HODGETOWN with Tuesday’s Game 1 loss...however, the Sod Poodles are 8-2 in road playoff games...the Soddies will have to win two straight games at Riders Field on Thursday and Friday in order to advance to the Texas League Championship Series.