Three Ninth-Inning Soddies Homers Aid Comeback Win in Extras Over Hooks
AMARILLO, TX (August 29, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (32-24, 68-56) defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks (27-29, 58-67), 9-8, in 10 innings on Saturday night at HODGETOWN. Down by four entering the bottom of the ninth inning, three home runs tied the game for Amarillo before the hosts plated
AMARILLO, TX (August 29, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (32-24, 68-56) defeated the Corpus Christi Hooks (27-29, 58-67), 9-8, in 10 innings on Saturday night at HODGETOWN. Down by four entering the bottom of the ninth inning, three home runs tied the game for Amarillo before the hosts plated a pair in the home half of the 10th for a wild walk-off win.
The Hooks struck first after the top of their order found early success against Sod Poodles starter Wellington Aracena. The first pair of Corpus Christi sticks ended up on second and third to set the table for Jason Schiavone who launched his fifth home run of the series, a three-run blast that highlighted the top of the first for the visitors.
Amarillo took advantage of a pair of errors in the home half to get a run back and make it a two-run deficit. Cristofer Torin was the beneficiary of the latter of the two miscues and scored on Angel Ortiz’s two-bagger off the left field wall to put the Soddies on the board.
Three straight Hooks reached base safely to begin the second before Trevor Austin checked in with a bases loaded single to left that brought home a run. A balk allowed another to cross and Corpus Christi plated one more on a groundout stopped by the diving Trent Youngblood at second to make it a 6-1 ballgame.
Youngblood led off the third with a single and moved up to third on Torin’s double off the center field wall to put ducks on the pond. Avery Owusu-Asiedu continued his run-producing ways with a sac fly that also moved Torin up 90 feet. The advance allowed the Amarillo shortstop to score on a soft grounder off the bat of Ortiz as his second RBI of the night put a third run on the board for the Soddies, keeping them within striking distance.
Aracena did well to limit further damage, posting three straight scoreless innings and bringing his strikeout total for the night to six before he exited the game after five full innings. However, Alejandro Nunez welcomed Alec Baker to the game by leading off the sixth with his a solo homer to give the Hooks their seventh run of the night.
The bullpens traded zeroes in the seventh and eighth innings while Tayler Montiel posted two three-up, three-down innings in the eighth and ninth with four strikeouts before Amarillo took what appeared to be their final turn at bat. Down four and needing a rally, Gavin Logan and Junior Franco hit back-to-back jacks to lead off the frame and cut the deficit in half, bringing the top of the Sod Poodles order to the plate.
With one away, Torin walked and advanced on a wild pitch. Owusu-Asiedu was caught looking at strike three, bringing Ortiz up to the dish with Amarillo down to their final out. The lefty was undeterred, smashing a 1-0 pitch to deep right-center field for a two-run blast that traveled 416 feet to tie the game and force extras.
ANGEL ORTIZ NUKE TO TIE IT IN THE NINTH 🤩
— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) August 30, 2026
HODGETOWN IS ROCKING 🔊🔊🔊 pic.twitter.com/XcY5gwYwMr
Corpus Christi plated a run in the top of the 10th on a sacrifice fly, but the Soddies rallied without issue to match it after a bases-loaded walk in Youngblood’s plate appearance brought Torin up to bat with the winning run standing 90 feet away. The shortstop found himself in an 0-2 count quickly, but he got a pitch he liked that he lined over the head of the center fielder to cap the 9-8 Sod Poodles win in walk-off fashion.
CRISTOFER TORIN CANNOT BE STOPPED ‼️
— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) August 30, 2026
THIS GAME IS OVER 😤 pic.twitter.com/IJ0yJGvt3l
POSTGAME NOTES
GRAN TORIN-O: Adding on to an incredible month of August with a trio of knocks, including the walk-off single this evening, was Cristofer Torin...over 21 games this month, he is slashing .400/.443/.633, good for a 1.067 OPS with 27 runs, six doubles, five home runs, and 14 RBI.
NEVER A DOUBT: Entering play tonight, the Sod Poodles have only erased one deficit of four or more runs going into the ninth in their history...the four-run Amarillo ninth to tie the game this evening mirrored the July 10, 2025 comeback victory over Frisco where the Sod Poodles beat the RoughRiders 13-12 in the 11th inning after finding themselves down by four going into the bottom of the ninth...tonight’s win marked only the second such victory when trailing by four or more at home in the ninth.