Hill Deals, Amarillo Secures Opening Series Win in Frisco

Frisco, Texas (April 8, 2023) – The Amarillo Sod Poodles (2-1) will head back to Amarillo with a series win after downing the Frisco RoughRiders 5-3 on Saturday night, wrapping up the opening 3-game road series. Jamison Hill was excellent in his first start this season and was backed by a 3-RBI night from Caleb Roberts.

Amarillo got things going early thanks to a RBI single off the bat Roberts, scoring Jordan Lawlar easily after he drew a one-out walk and then stole second. The Sod Poodles then got leadoff home runs in each of the next two innings as the lead was extended to three runs. Tim Tawa swatted his first homer of the season to begin the second inning. Ryan Bliss then plastered a ball 406 feet over the left field wall in the third.

Hill was dominant on the mound for the Sod Poodles. The right-hander tossed four scoreless innings, adding five strikeouts to his box score.

Presented without comment. pic.twitter.com/BcWUo8ETW2

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) April 9, 2023

Frisco finally got something going after Hill exited the game, stringing together four hits as they tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning all with no outs. The first out of the frame also brought a pitching change as right-hander Michel Otanez made his way out of the Amarillo bullpen in relief of Jackson Goddard.

Otanez struck out both batters he faced in the fifth, keeping the potential go-ahead run stranded on third. A leadoff double and wild pitch once again had a Frisco runner just 90 feet away from taking the lead. Otanez picked up his third strikeout and induced a pop-out to mitigate the threat. Playing the matchup game, Sod Poodles Manager Shawn Roof brought lefty Jake Rice out of the bullpen to face Evan Carter, the Texas Rangers' no.2-rated prospect. A walk sent switch-hitting MLB rehabber Leody Tavares to the plate. Rice escaped the inning after getting Tavares to fly out to left-center field.

The Sod Poodles pieced together three-straight hits, including a go-ahead two-RBI triple by Roberts. The next three Sod Poodles hitters were retired to keep the lead at 5-3.

Christian Montes De Oca made his Double-A debut, sitting the RoughRiders down in order on just eight pitches in the seventh. He needed a few more to get through his second inning of work but did so unscathed after the leadoff man reached via error.

A three up, three down top of the ninth for Amarillo brought on Raffi Vizcaino for his Amarillo debut. The 27-year-old was signed by the Diamondbacks in early January 2023 after spending the first eight years of his professional career in the San Francisco Giants organization. He retired the RoughRiders in order, putting an exclamation point on his first save in 2023 by striking out the last two he faced.

After securing the series win in Frisco, the Sod Poodles will head back to Amarillo for their home opener at HODGETOWN on Tuesday, April 11against the Corpus Christi Hooks. First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Notes:

King of the Hill: After turning in four scoreless innings on Saturday night, Jamison Hill has now gone 9.0 IP without a run allowed dating back to his last start a season ago. Hill fired five scoreless on September 18, 2022 in San Antonio to end his year and picked up right where he left off. It was the 7th time in his brief 30-game professional career he has turned in at least 4.0 IP without an earned run allowed.

Life Is Bliss: For the third time in the series, Ryan Bliss tallied a multi-hit game. After striking out to lead off the game, Bliss hit his first Double-A homer to start the third. Through three games, Bliss is hitting .500 (7-for-14) with a triple, home run, and three RBI.

Some people might call this a

BLISS MISSILE 🚀

we're some people.

My goodness, Ryan Bliss. Stay hot 🥵️🔥 pic.twitter.com/2JTFouVJaw

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) April 9, 2023

Cool, Calm, and Caleb: Caleb Roberts did a lot of the heavy lifting to help secure the opening series win. After driving home the first run of the game in the first inning, Roberts added the go-ahead RBIs with his seventh-inning 2-RBI triple. He finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBI. After a late-season promotion to end 2022, Roberts is hitting .310 (13-for-42) with a pair of doubles and triples each to go along with eight RBI through his first 12 Double-A games.

Tawa Pawa:Tim Tawa swatted his first home run this season, leading off the second inning with a solo shot to straightaway left field. It was his sixth Double-A homer since being promoted to Amarillo in late June 2022.

Bullpen Back At It: Through the first three games (13.0 IP) the Amarillo bullpen has surrendered just three earned runs. On Saturday, Michel Otanez, Jake Rice, Christian Montes De Oca, and Raffi Vizcaino allowed just one hit over the final 4.2 IP with seven strikeouts. Rice collected his second Double-A win, Montes De Oca earned a hold in his Amarillo and Double-A debut, while Vizcaino picked up his first save of the year in his first minor league appearance since the end of the 2021 season.\

Now Serving Stolen Bases: Nick Dalesandro swiped his way into the Sod Poodles record books on Saturday night. After stealing a team-high 35 bases last season, Dalesandro collected his first stolen base in 2023, breaking a tie with Edward Olivares (2019) for the most stolen bases by a Sod Poodle player in the brief three-year history of the franchise. Amarillo swiped a total of five bases on Saturday (Lawlar (2), Bliss, Roberts, and Dalesandro) which is the second-most ever in a game. The Sod Poodles swiped six bags on June 4, 2022 against Midland.