Sod Poodles Eleven Hits Not Enough In 8-3 Game One Loss To RockHounds

AMARILLO, Texas - The Sod Poodles dropped game one of the Texas League South Division Championship Series by a final score of 8-3 in front of 5,193 at HODGETOWN. Hudson Potts and Taylor Kohlwey led the Sod Poodles offensively, each going 2-for-4. Potts collected the first postseason home run in franchise history while Kohlwey totaled two doubles on the night. Owen Miller and Kyle Overstreet added a pair of singles as well. 
Sod Poodles pitching struggled after four arms combined for a season-high 11 walks with runs converted on five of the walked batters. Soddies starter Lake Bachar tossed 2.2 innings and allowed five runs on four hits. Bachar struck out three Midland batters but picked up the loss in game one. Ramirez, Guerrero and Valdez combined for the remainder, only allowing two hits between but giving up seven walks. 
 
The Midland RockHounds struck the board in the third inning with five runs on four hits. The inning started with back-to-back walks to Collin Theroux and Mickey McDonald. Chase Calabuig then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up to third and second base. Brallan Perez followed with a fly out to right field to give Amarillo two outs in the inning. With Nate Mondou at the plate, Bachar threw a wild pitch that allowed Theroux and McDonald to score on. After Mondou drew a walk, Taylor Motter hit a two-run home run to left field. Tyler Ramirez and Edwin Diaz extended the frame with a pair of singles to place runners on first and second base. The final run of the inning came when Greg Deichmann hit an RBI double to give the RockHounds the 5-0 advantage.
 
In the fourth inning, Calabuig worked a leadoff walk. Two batters later, Mondou hit a two-run home run to right field to extend the RockHounds lead to 7-0. 
In the Sod Poodles fourth, Amarillo started to chip away at the Midland advantage when Hudson Potts crushed a solo home run to left field to make the score 7-1 and then plated another solo run in the fifth inning on Taylor Trammell's home run to right field to cut the Midland lead to 7-2.
 
In the seventh inning, Amarillo made it a 7-3 game after Taylor Kohlwey doubled to plate Overstreet, who singled to start the inning.
 
In the eighth inning, the RockHounds stretched their lead to 8-3 when they worked three walks to load the bases. The lone run of the inning came when Motter walked in a seven-pitch at-bat.
 
In the ninth, with five to chase, Amarillo went down in order, dropping game one of the five-game playoff series to the RockHounds. 
 
The Sod Poodles continue the Texas League South Division series Thursday at HODGETOWN against the Midland RockHounds. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.