Amarillo Continues Winning Ways With Late Inning Heroics

AMARILLO, TX (June 19, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (35-31) defeated the Midland RockHounds (31-35), 6-1, on Friday night at HODGETOWN. A pitchers duel in the first half of the game, Amarillo used its power stroke in the late stages en route to a sixth straight win.

The opening frames in the final Friday game of the Texas League First Half were defined by pitching prowess as a pair of highly-ranked prospects in their respective organizations toed the slab for the night’s action. Coming in at number 18 on Arizona’s top-30 list (MLB Pipeline) was Ashton Izzi who prevented a Midland two-out rally from getting out of hand in the first inning to post a zero.

Jamie Arnold was just as excellent on the hill for the RockHounds as the 26th-ranked prospect in all of baseball twirled four scoreless frames, striking out six Sod Poodles along the way to go toe-to-toe with Izzi in the early pitchers duel.

As the contest turned over to the top of the fifth, Midland broke onto the scoreboard when they loaded the bases and benefited from a Colby Halter sacrifice fly to left field.

Izzi worked into the sixth and retired each of the first two batters he faced in the inning, but a Casey Yamauchi single brought his day on the bump to a close after 5.2 innings. Casey Anderson took over, catching Clark Elliott looking at strike three to end the frame.

The home half brought success to the Soddies after Danny Serretti kick-started the rally with a leadoff walk. He scurried over to third on Cristofer Torin’s double and both runners came around to score on Demetrio Crisantes’ triple to center field to give Amarillo their first lead of the night. Druw Jones got in on the sixth inning fun as the 2022 first round pick continued to stay hot in the batter’s box by doubling home Crisantes for the 3-1 Amarillo advantage.

Following a three-up, three-down seventh inning for Anderson, Serretti found a pitch he liked in the bottom half and sent it onto the berm in right field for a solo blast that increased the Soddies’ lead to three runs.

Carlos Rey worked around a pair of walks in the eighth to punch out a pair of RockHounds to keep the lead intact. With a runner on second base in Amarillo’s turn at bat and Jones at the plate, the center fielder roped his second two-bagger of the game to scratch an insurance run. Junior Franco tacked on another run in the eighth with an RBI single which was plenty of cushion for Alfred Morillo, who faced the minimum in the ninth to finish a clean victory.

POSTGAME NOTES

YES SERRETTI: In his first career start at first base, Danny Serretti went deep for the 10th time this season in the seventh inning...since June 4, the switch-hitter is batting .333 (9x27) with five XBH and a 1.119 OPS.

NICE DEMET YOU: Continuing a torrid stretch of the plate over his most recent eight games was Demetrio Crisantes...he has now scored a run in eight straight games, the longest such streak among Sod Poodles this season, amassing 13 total runs while batting .441 (15x34) with eight extra-base hits and a 1.337 OPS over that stretch (6/10-c).