Soddies Drop Season Opener In Rout By Cardinals
AMARILLO, TX (April 3, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (0-1) fell to the Springfield Cardinals (1-0), 10-1, on Friday night at HODGETOWN. Opening Day goes the way of the visitors as Springfield’s nine-hitter accounted for the majority of their runs. Early on, tonight’s action had the appearance of a
AMARILLO, TX (April 3, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (0-1) fell to the Springfield Cardinals (1-0), 10-1, on Friday night at HODGETOWN. Opening Day goes the way of the visitors as Springfield’s nine-hitter accounted for the majority of their runs.
Early on, tonight’s action had the appearance of a pitcher’s duel with Daniel Eagen tossing four shutout innings to open play, fanning two in the first frame. He only surrendered one baserunner over the first four stanzas, but was matched by Springfield starter Jurrangelo Cijntje who tallied four shutout innings of his own.
Cijntje, a switch pitcher, ran his fastball in the upper 90’s and fanned five Amarillo batters over his first four innings.
Springfield broke the game open in the top of the fifth, posting a six-spot that began with Zach Levenson doubling to right-center field to give the Cardinals the lead. With the bases loaded and Eagen out of the game, Dakota Harris launched a ball to deep left-center field, clearing the fence for a grand slam and the five-run Springfield advantage. The Cardinals would add one more in the frame on a double play to cap the scoring.
The Cards got back to work in the sixth when Jeremy Rivas singled to open the inning and scratch the first run of the frame. Harris stepped back up to the dish fresh off a grand slam and tallied another long-ball, a three-run dinger that extended the lead to double-digits.
Manuel Pena checked into the game in the bottom of the eighth with a blast to center on an 0-1 count with two outs to put Amarillo on the board, but that would be all the Soddies could muster as they dropped the inaugural game of 2026 by a 10-1 score to Springfield.
The Sod Poodles look to get into the win column tomorrow night as they send RHP Josh Grosz (0-0, 0.00) to the hill. Springfield will counter with LHP Braden Davis (0-0, 0.00) for the 7:05 p.m. game.
POSTGAME NOTES
OPENER WOES: The Soddies fall to 1-6 all-time in Opening Day contests with the loss to Springfield this evening...their lone win came in 2021 on the road at Tulsa.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES: Arizona’s 16th-ranked prospect (MLB Pipeline) Druw Jones collected his first Double-A hit this evening, singling to right to put himself in the hit column in his Soddies debut.