Olivares, Castillo Lead Sod Poodles Past Hooks 8-6 Saturday Night

AMARILLO, Texas - The Sod Poodles won their second consecutive game with an 8-6 victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks in the third game of the series in front of over of a new franchise-high 7,386 fans at HODGETOWN on Saturday night. Outfielder Edward Olivares highlighted the Amarillo offense with his 4-for-5 night, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. Taylor Kohlwey added a second four-hit performance while Olivares and Ivan Castillo both homered and collected three RBI each.  
Amarillo starting pitcher Nick Margevicius (1-0) tossed five innings Saturday night and allowed two runs on six hits. Margevicius struck out two Hooks batters and didn't allow a walk in 86 pitches. 
The Sod Poodles wasted no time Saturday night as they jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against the visiting Hooks. The two runs came via an Edward Olivares two-run, 427-foot home run.
In the top of the third inning, Corpus Christi cut the Amarillo lead in half as J.J Matijevic belted a solo home run to left field to make it a 2-1 score. The Sod Poodles responded in the bottom of the inning as they plated one run on an Olivares RBI double to stretch the Amarillo advantage to 3-1.
Hooks first basemen Seth Beer pulled Corpus Christi to within one run in the fourth inning after his solo home run to bring the score to 3-2.
Sod Poodles infielder Peter Van Gansen extended the Soddies lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when he belted a two-run single with the bases loaded to extend the Amarillo lead to 5-2.    
In the sixth inning, Ivan Castillo hit a two-run home run to right field to push the Sod Poodles advantage to 7-2. 
Corpus Christi narrowed the Amarillo lead to 7-5 in the top of the eighth inning as they plated three runs on three hits. The first run came when Abraham Toro hit an RBI double scoring Anibal Sierra. Two batters later, Granden Goetzman singled to left field to score Toro. The final run of the inning scored when Sod Poodles reliever Dauris Valdez threw a wild pitch to allow Beer to score.
The Sod Poodles added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning after Castillo hit a sacrifice fly to center field to allow Brad Zunica to score and extend the Amarillo lead to 8-5. 
The Hooks attempted to mount a comeback in the top of the ninth when Matijevic hit a leadoff home run to make the score 8-6. But Soddies reliever J.C. Cosme settled in afterward and retired the side to give the Sod Poodles the victory over the Hooks.   
Mid-reliever Kazuhisa Makita made his first appearance since June 14 and tossed a perfect two innings with a strikeout. Dauris Valdez added an inning of work and allowed three runs on three hits. 
The Sod Poodles will look for a series win against the Hooks as the two will wrap up their four-game set at HODGETOWN tomorrow evening. First pitch in downtown Amarillo is at 6:05 p.m.