Amarillo Drops Second Straight At Northwest Arkansas

SPRINGDALE, AR (April 10, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (1-6) fell to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (5-2), 7-2, Friday night at Arvest Ballpark. The early season woes continued for the visitors as the Naturals never trailed, winning their third game of the series.

Amarillo starter Josh Grosz faced the minimum in his first two frames, sitting down five of his first six batters faced via strikeout. Following a leadoff single in the bottom of the third by Dustin Dickerson, the entire complexion of the inning changed when Grosz was unable to get out of the way of a potential double play ball off the bat of Canyon Brown, leading to an infield single.

The Naturals manufactured their first two runs on the basepaths after a sequence that included a double steal and two wild pitches over the course of the next three offerings to Carson Roccaforte. Two pitches later, Northwest Arkansas’ leadoff batter homered to put the hosts up 3-0.

The Soddies answered in the next inning, with the first five batters reaching base against southpaw Frank Mozzicato. Amarillo got on the board with RBI singles by Druw Jones and Danny Serretti, but two outs on the basepaths limited what could have been a much bigger inning as the Naturals got out of the fourth still leading 3-2.

Antonio Menendez was perfect in his 2.1 innings of relief for Amarillo, but the Naturals would get to Indigo Diaz in his second inning of work, creating their largest lead of the night. Dickerson drove in Jack Pineda on a double to right field to make the score 4-2, and a two-out RBI single by Rudy Martin Jr. doubled the Northwest Arkansas advantage. The Naturals would later plate their third run of the night on a wild pitch to go up 7-2 after seven innings.

The Sod Poodles threatened to score throughout the night but were unable to string together big hits outside of the fourth inning. The Naturals bullpen held strong through the final few frames to tag Amarillo with the 7-2 loss, their third of the series.

Amarillo will look to get back in the win column at Arvest Ballpark Saturday night, with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. RHP Ashton Izzi is scheduled to make his second start of the season for the Soddies while the Naturals counter with RHP Felix Arronde.

POSTGAME NOTES

GROSZ DOMESTIC PRODUCT: Soddies starting pitcher Josh Grosz was unhittable in his first two innings pitched on Friday...he retired the first three Naturals batters with whiffs, becoming the first Amarillo pitcher to strike out the side in 2026.

PUT IN A ‘TIZZY: Continuing his hot stretch at the dish to open the season tonight was Angel Ortiz...his double in the seventh gave him at least one extra-base hit in each of his first five games of the year...Carson Roccaforte and Brett Squires of the Naturals are tied for him atop the Texas League with 6 XBH.