Hooks Spoil Amarillo Home Opener On Tuesday Night

Amarillo, Texas (April 11, 2023) – The Amarillo Sod Poodles (2-2) dropped their home opener to the Corpus Christi Hooks (1-3), by a score of 5-4 Tuesday night at HODGETOWN in a climatic debut in front of the hometown faithful.

The beginning of the game saw three innings of scoreless baseball as both clubs struggled to plate a runner until Amarillo finally broke through first. Caleb Roberts jump-started a mini-rally with an infield single, followed by a balk to move him into scoring position. Deyvison De Los Santos slashed a ground ball to the right side of the infield, moving Roberts to third. He would not be left stranded as a sacrifice fly was enough to drive him home and secure Amarillo's first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth.

The Hooks answered in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs of their own. They strung together a leadoff base knock from C.J. Stubbs followed up by a RBI double roped into the gap by Shay Whitcomb. A pair of groundouts was enough to get Whitcomb over to third and across the dish for a 2-1 advantage.

J.C. Correa found himself in scoring position in the top of the sixth for the Hooks, reaching first base off a fielder's choice and becoming a scoring threat via a wild pitch. Colin Barber capitalized on the opportunity, poking a ball into center field for a base knock RBI, making it 3-1.

A quiet frame by the Soddies in the home half of the seventh proved costly when a successfully swiped bag would put Quincy Hamilton in scoring position on second base. Jordan Brewer gave the Hooks a three-run advantage, roping a ball to the outfield grass, scoring Hamilton easily.

A.J. Vukovich's first homer of the season skimmed the right-field wall to trim the Hooks lead to just two runs in the home half of the seventh.

A scoreless eighth inning by both clubs was followed up by the second base knock off the bat of Stubbs. A balk call on RHP Jeff Bain moved him into scoring position. That miscue proved even more costly following a pair of flyouts pushed Stubbs all the way home and a 5-2 Hooks lead.

An explosive ninth inning for Amarillo began with Jordan Lawlar collecting a base on balls and was highlighted by a two-run opposite field bomb by Roberts to bring the score to 5-4. Tim Tawa notched an infield base knock to become the potential tying run with just one out in the inning. Vukovich followed him on, drawing the second walk of the inning and moved Tawa into scoring position. However, the rally ended as a deep fly out to left field and a swinging strikeout sealed the Soddies fate on Tuesday night.

RHP Chad Patrick (0-1) had a strong start for Amarillo, tossing 4.1 IP of work, allowing two earned on five hits while punching out six Hooks. Patrick battled back after nearly being forced to exit in the first inning due to a high pitch count in the opening frame. LHP Andrew Saalfrank, RHP Christian Montes De Oca, and RHP Jeff Bain combined to turn in 4.2 IP of relief while allowing just two earned runs on four hits with a pair of free passes and four punchouts.

The Sod Poodles will be back for game two of the opening home series versus Corpus Christi on Wednesday, April 12. RHP Deyni Olivero gets the nod for Amarillo with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Notes:

Pat On The Back: RHP Chad Patrick continued his streak of turning in at least 5+ strikeouts in his starts. The former Purdue Northwest standout has at least five strikeouts in six of his last eight starts dating back to August 7, 2022 with Low-A Visalia. Including Tuesday's start, he has turned in a 3-1 record, a 3.41 ERA, and 44 strikeouts to 12 walks during the stretch.

Batter Bait: Caleb Roberts' ninth-inning home run was his first in Double-A since joining the Sod Poodles at the end of the 2022 season. In his first 13 games played as a Sod Poodle, Roberts carries a .326 AVG (15-for-46) with one home run, two doubles, two triples, and 10 RBI. He has logged consecutive multi-hit and multi-RBI performances for Amarillo and now leads the team with five RBI through four games in 2023.

The Hits Don't Bliss: Dating back to the end of the 2022 season (Aug. 23 - present), Ryan Bliss has a hit in 11 straight games after going 1-for-4 on Tuesday night against Corpus Christi. During this span, Bliss is hitting .346 (9-for-26) with 10 runs scored, three doubles, a triple, home run, and four RBI. Despite a three-hit night from Corpus' Scott Schreiber, Bliss still holds a one-hit advantage atop the Texas League Leaderboard in hits (8) to begin 2023.

A Nuke Is A Nuke For Vuk: A.J. Vukovich, the Arizona Diamondbacks' no.13-rated prospect, collected his first home run of the season Tuesday night. The opposite-field wall scraper was his third Double-A home run after being promoted to Amarillo for the stretch run in 2022. Through 15 games played, Vukovich is batting .259 (15-for-58) with 10 RBI to go along with his three homers. All of his extra-base hits so far in Double-A have come in the four-bag variety as he still waits on his first Double-A two or three-bagger to come his way.