Sod Poodles Drop Extra-Innings Battle to Hooks

Corpus Christi, Texas - The Sod Poodles fell to a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning on Saturday night in a 9-8 loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks. Amarillo collected 15 hits, led by a three-hit night from SS Jordan Lawlar.

The Sod Poodles offense got cooking in the 1st inning and jumped ahead with three runs. Lawlar and Leandro Cedeño got on base with a single and a walk, and Blaze Alexander brought them all home with a three-run homer. It was his 14th of the year and second in the last two games.

The Hooks responded with one run in the bottom of the 1st off of Sod Poodles’ starter Bryce Jarvis as a leadoff triple quickly scored on an RBI single. Jarvis collected two strikeouts and loaded the bases with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, but escaped the jam with a flyout.

Jarvis allowed two runners in each of the 2nd and 3rd, but the score held until the 4th inning when Amarillo added three more. The inning led off with a strikeout, but the next six batters reached.

Juan Centeno reached on a one-out throwing error, and three straight singles from Tim Tawa, Nick Dalesandro, and Ti’Quan Forbes ignited the scoring. Eduardo Diaz made it 6-1 with an RBI fielder’s choice. Jordan Lawlar followed him with a single, but the shortstop was thrown out trying to steal 2nd.

Cedeño mashed his Texas League-leading 29th home run of the year to lead off the top of the 5th. Trailing 7-1, the Hooks began their comeback with three runs in the bottom of the frame off Jarvis.

The leadoff batter walked and was promptly scored on an RBI double. A groundout and a caught stealing collected two outs, but a two-run homer made it 7-4. Jarvis ended the inning with a strikeout, which ended his night at 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, and 5 K.

The Hooks scored in the next three innings against the Amarillo bullpen to tie the game. Garrett Leonard allowed back-to-back doubles in the 6th, Andrew Saalfrank allowed a run in the 7th on a two-out wild pitch, and Justin Lewis was tagged with a blown save after allowing a game-tying solo home run in the 8th.

Brent Teller entered with the game tied in the bottom of the 9th after Amarillo put two runners on without scoring in the top. He allowed a single and struck out the next batter, but back-to-back walks loaded the bases with one out. The next batter groundout out without plating a run, and Teller escaped the jam and sent it to extras with a seven-pitch, bases-loaded strikeout.

Newly tied in the top of the 10th, the Sod Poodles scored their first run since the 5th inning. With Dalesandro as the courtesy runner on 2nd, pinch-hitting Roby Enriquez advanced him to 3rd on a groundout. He scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-7. Lawlar then singled and Cedeño reached on an error, but they were both left stranded.

The Hooks scored twice in the bottom of the 10th to walk off with the win. The first batter tied the game off of Blake Rogers with an RBI double. Rogers got the next batter to pop out and intentionally walked the next to put runners at the corners. Another walk loaded the bases with one out, and a sacrifice fly to left field scored the winning run.

Amarillo out-hit Corpus Christi 15-12 and did not commit an error. Cedeño, English, Dalesandro and Tawa each had a two-hit night and Lawlar went 3-for-6. Every Sod Poodle starter recorded a hit and Alexander led the way with three RBI.

The Soddies will take on the Hooks in the series finale tomorrow, August 28, with first pitch at 7:05 PM. Slade Cecconi will be on the mound for Amarillo to take on Corpus Christi’s Spencer Arrighetti.

Notes:

Back-To-Blaze: SS Blaze Alexander went 1-for-4 tonight and smacked a three-run home run to put Amarillo in front in the top of the 1st. He has hit a homer in back-to-back games after a solo shot last night and has 14 dingers on the year. It was his 10th multi-RBI game of the year, and fifth with his season-high three RBI. Alexander is the eighth individual Sod Poodle to go yard in back-to-back games this year. On the year, the Blonde Bomber is batting .295 with 13 doubles and 43 RBI.

Can’t Be Stopped: 1B Leandro Cedeño led off the 5th with a solo home run, also giving him a homer in back-to-back games after a three-run homer last night. He leads the Texas League with 29 home runs, which is tied for 6th in minor league baseball. Cedeño also has 90 RBI on the year, tied for 13th in the minors. Tonight was his fourth home run of the series, where he has also picked up 12 RBI.

Everybody Eats: Every Sod Poodle recorded a hit tonight, the 12th time that has happened this year. It was also their 14th time with 15 or more hits, and they are 8-6 in those games. SS Jordan Lawlar led the way with a 3-for-6 night, the first three-hit game of his minor-league career. Leandro Cedeño, Tristin English, Nick Dalesandro, and Tawa each had a two-hit night as well.

Double-Up Defense: Amarillo tied their season-high with three double-plays turned tonight. Blaze Alexander and Jordan Lawlar teamed up for two in the 2nd and 3rd innings, and Ti’Quan Forbes ended the 4th with a 5-4-3 double-play. The Sod Poodles have turned 106 double-plays on the year, fifth in all of Double-A and third in the Texas League. Their defense has been stellar as of late, with just two total errors in their last 10 games.