Flying Chanclas Fall Short in Late Rally

SAN ANTONIO (April 23, 2026) — A back-and-forth battle between the Amarillo Sod Poodles (7-11) and the Flying Chanclas de San Antonio (5-13) ended in a bitter defeat as the Flying Chanclas could not grasp the lead again after drawing even late in the game, as they were bested by the Soddies in this tit-for-tat battle 7-5.

The second-ranked prospect for the San Diego Padres, Ethan Salas, lit the spark offensively for the Flying Chanclas, roping one to left field to start off the contest against Sod Poodles starter Ashton Izzi. Izzi would hand out free passes to two more Chanclas and quickly found himself surrounded with the bags packed. Braedon Karpathios stared down four balls in a row from Izzi at the plate before taking his base for a Salas score to close out the first inning for San Antonio 1-0.

Flying Chanclas starter Miguel Mendez wouldn’t be able to make it past two innings in this matchup. After an undemanding first inning, Mendez would run into some uncommon trouble in the second, allowing four runs off of five hits. Junior Franco and Jesus Valdez would keep rolling from yesterday’s doubleheader with two doubles to jump in front of the Flying Chanclas 4-1. Prior to a game-changing second, Mendez had allowed only five hits in nine innings in his past two appearances.

A Romeo Sanabria single provided some much needed juice to start a Flying Chanclas rally in the third inning. Designated hitter Leandro Cedeno understood the task at hand, sending a shot to left field for a double to send Sanabria into scoring position. Tirso Ornelas flirted with The Wolff’s right field wall with a deep sacrifice fly out to close the gap for the Flying Chanclas 4-2. Cedeno jogged across home plate after a Karpathios ground out, and Ryan Jackson singled for the Flying Chanclas to make them trail by one to end the third.

San Antonio reliever Francis Peña looked to take some pressure off the Flying Chanclas fielders after a rocky start. Peña would manage to stay out of trouble in the third and fourth innings with two strikeouts until the top of the fifth. The Sod Poodles’ middle of the order hitters jumped all over Peña before the conclusion of the frame to snatch up a run and give themselves some breathing room going up 5-3.

The heart of the order for the Flying Chanclas kept beating despite the scoring gap. Sanabria and Cedeno kept fighting to swing momentum their way with a single and a triple to chop Amarillo's lead to 5-4. Karpathios would turn the tide in the fifth driving in Cedeno for the game-tying run after securing his third double of the season to even the odds 5-5.

Amarillo would continue to punch back and find ways to regain the lead in this showdown as San Antonio’s pitching was unable to prevent their offense from getting back on base. This time the Sod Poodles got rolling off of Michael Flynn, as the top of the line up would pack the house on him with nobody out. After a strikeout, Flynn would allow Gavin Conticello to reach first base off a throwing error trying to go home from a chopper back to the mound that led to two Sod Poodles scores. Flynn managed to recover to get out of the sixth inning with three straight strikeouts, but not without losing grip of the lead as the Flying Chanclas trailed 7-5.

After a back-and-forth affair, the Flying Chanclas would throw their last ditch effort in the bottom of the sixth to knot things up off of a Salas soft, yet bold bunt single. The opportunistic nineteen-year-old would bait Amarillo’s Carlos Rey to commit a balk disengagement violation to advance him to second. However the sly playmaking would not pay off, as no other Chanclas were able to fly around and get on more bases the rest of the evening, so the Chanclas were bested by the Sod Poodles.

Up Next:

The Missions and Sod Poodles continue their six-game series on Friday at 7:05 p.m. at The Wolff. The first 1,500 fans receive a Missions water bottle thanks to Novo Brazil. Lefty Fernando Sanchez (1-1, 8.22) faces righty Jose Cabrera (0-0, 2.77). Catch all the action on Country Legends KKYX, 680 AM, 104.9 FM and kkyx.com. Tickets are available at samissions.com or by calling 210-675-7275.

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The San Antonio Missions are the Double-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The Missions were established in 1888 and have brought affordable family fun to the Alamo City for more than 120 seasons. The 13-time Texas League champions play their home games at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium. For more information and tickets, call 210-675-7275 or visit samissions.com.