AMARILLO, Texas - The Amarillo Sod Poodles rallied back from a six-run deficit for a second consecutive night at HODGETOWN, tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning and taking home the 12-8 victory over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals after a four-run eighth inning to total 10 unanswered runs
AMARILLO, Texas - The Amarillo Sod Poodles rallied back from a six-run deficit for a second consecutive night at HODGETOWN, tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning and taking home the 12-8 victory over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals after a four-run eighth inning to total 10 unanswered runs in front of another sellout crowd of over 6,800.
Northwest Arkansas struck first as they plated three runs on four hits in the top of the first inning. After a leadoff bunt single by Nick Heath, he stole second base and then advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Kevin Merrell struck an RBI single to left-center field in the next at-bat which scored Heath. Gabriel Cancel followed with a single advancing Merrell to third base. Khalil Lee then belted an RBI double to left field. Taylor Featherston grounded out which resulted in an infield double play and first and third base but Cancel scored before the third out was recorded to give the Naturals the 3-0 lead.
In the top of the third inning, Cancel hit a solo home run to left-center field to extend the Naturals lead to 4-0.
Northwest Arkansas tacked on three runs in the fourth inning as Freddy Fermin and Angelo Castellano hit back-to-back home runs to stretch the Naturals lead to 7-0. In the bottom of the inning, Edward Olivares was hit by a pitch and then came around to score courtesy of a Luis Torrens two-run RBI double by Hudson Potts to cut the Northwest Arkansas lead to 7-2.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Naturals third baseman Angelo Castellano hit a solo home run to left field to extend the Northwest Arkansas lead to 8-1.
Amarillo answered right back in the bottom of the inning, scoring five runs on four hits. Edward Olivares initiated the scoring via a solo home run to left field. Owen Miller then worked a walk followed by a Hudson Potts single to bring up Kyle Overstreet. Overstreet roped a single to left field scoring Miller. Buddy Reed continued the inning with a two-run RBI single to center field. Reed later came around to score when he stole second base and scored on a throwing error on the catcher and fielding error by the centerfielder to narrow the Naturals lead to 8-7.
Amarillo tied the ballgame up at 8-8 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Ivan Castillo started the inning off with a single to center field and then advanced to third base on pitcher Conner Greene's overthrown ball on a pickoff attempt. Olivares plated Castillo with a single to left field tying the ballgame.
In the eighth inning, the Sod Poodles completed their comeback, scoring four runs on three hits to take a 12-8 lead. Overstreet opened the inning with a single to left-center field. Taylor Kohlwey, who entered the game as a pinch-runner for Overstreet, proceeded to steal second base during Reed's at-bat and Reed eventually worked a six-pitch walk placing runners on first and second. Two batters later, with two outs, Castillo hit an infield single to shortstop that allowed Kohlwey to score. Finally, Olivares capped off the comeback with a crushed three-run home run to left-center.
In the top of the ninth inning, David Bednar came on to close out the ballgame. After Fermin reached on an infield error, Bednar settled down, retiring the next two via strikeout and ending the game on a groundout.
The Sod Poodles head into the second game of the four-game set with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Saturday night at HODGETOWN. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
