Amarillo, Texas (July 3, 2023) – Amarillo closed out the Independence Weekend Celebration at HODGETOWN with a twin bill sweep of the Tulsa Drillers Monday night. Amarillo was powered by eight home runs and 25 combined runs in front of a historic crowd of 7,588 in downtown Amarillo.

It was the A.J. Vukovich show in game one of the doubleheader for Amarillo. After Jordan Lawlar hit the first inside the park home run for Amarillo since 2021, Vukovich launched the first of his three home runs in game one. Lawlar and Vukovich went back-to-back to put the Sod Poodles up 2-0 after the first inning of play. Vukovich was back up to the plate in the bottom of the second following a mini-two out rally. Ryan Bliss singled and Lawlar was hit by a pitch to bring the D-backs' no. 11-rated prospect back to the plate. This time with two aboard, Vukovich swatted his second home run of the night, this time giving the Sod Poodles the lead after Tulsa scored four in the top of the inning. Two more two-out extra base hits scored Amarillo's four run of the inning to go back ahead 6-4.

The first seven Amarillo batters in the bottom of the third reached base safely, highlighted by a Caleb Roberts solo shot to begin the six-run Amarillo inning. His third straight game with a home run came in his second at-bat after being named Texas League Player of the Week for June 26- July 2. Following him was a single and back-to-back doubles off the bats of Nick Dalesandro and Bliss. Two more hits in the inning helped Amarillo build a 12-6 lead after three innings played. Bliss collected his third hit in the first four innings played as he roped a one-out single. The team-leader in steals then proceeded to swipe two more bases to put himself at third base. Lawlar drew his second walk and stole second. On the first pitch of his at-bat in the fourth inning Vukovich hit his second three-run bomb of the game to put Amarillo up 15-6.

Deyni Olivero was one of two pitchers used by Amarillo in game one as he earned the win after spinning 5.0 IP. Gerald Ogando made his second Double-A appearance, working the final 2.0 IP where he allowed just three hits and one earned.

Amarillo finished game one with nine XBH inclduding tying the season-high in home runs with five. The club also set a new season-high for runs scored in a game so far this season with 15. Vukovich did the majority of the work going 3-for-4 with three home runs, seven RBI, and four runs scored. Bliss added three stolen bases to go along with his three hits and three runs scored. All nine Amarillo starters recorded a hit in the first of two seven-inning games.

The Drillers sort of flipped the script on Amarillo for the start of game two. Their first two batters recorded an XBH, going double, home run to start the game and a 2-0 lead. Tim Tawa got one of the runs back fairly quick. The former Stanford Cardinal hit his third fourth home run of the series to cut the Amarillo deficit to 2-1. Tulsa added a solo shot in their next at-bats to regain a two-run advantage over Amarillo for the time being.

Roberts and Neyfy Castillo switched places after each hitting a double in the bottom of the second. Nick Dalesandro picked up his lone hit of game two to drive home Castillo and tie the game at 4-4. The first pitch of the top of the third left the yard, giving Tulsa back their lead - and their third homer of game two through their first three trips to the plate.

As they have all year long, Amarillo answered back. Tawa hit a leadoff single to start the bottom of the third. He then stole second and later advanced to third on a productive groundout. A passed ball allowed Tawa to knot things back up - this time at 4-4. The second straight inning with a leadoff homer from Tulsa once again put the advantage on their side. The first half inning of game two that did not feature a run scored was the home half of the fourth as Tulsa clung to their 5-4 lead.

Christian Montes De Oca fired a clean frame himself after taking over on the bump in the top of the fifth. Then it was game on.

Two walks, a wild pitch, and a single loaded the bases for Amarillo in the bottom of the fifth. Seth Beer was hit the first pitch of his at-bat with the bases loaded to bring home the game's tying run and sent Roberts to the plate. He sent the very first pitch of the at-bat over the left-center wall for the second Amarillo grand slam of the season. Two batters later, Castillo swatted his sixth home run of the season to cap off a six-spot in the bottom of the fifth and give Amarillo a 10-5 lead.

Tulsa's Carson Taylor hit his second home run of the game for the Drillers only run in the top of the sixth. Amarillo was held in check during the bottom of the sixth to send the game to its final inning with the Sod Poodles holding a four-run cushion. The first three batters of the inning reached safely with just one hit allowed and prompted a quick pitching change to bring Josh Green to the mound. The reliable right-hander took over with the bases loaded, nbody out, and facing the potential tying run at the plate. A wild pitch scored a run and allowed both runners to advance into scoring position. A subsequent single scored another and put runners on the corners with the tying run on base. A sacrifice fly made it a one-run game.

After the only Amarillo error in game two put the potential tying run into scoring position, Tawa atoned for the miscue, this time starting the game-ending double play to secure Amarillo's 10-9 win.

Amarillo now travels overnight to play the Springfield Cardinals Tuesday, July 4 at Hammons Field. The Sod Poodles will face their second consecutive North Division opponent to begin the Texas League second half. Amarillo took five-of-six against the Drillers to earn the series win. RHP Chad Patrick will get the ball for Amarillo in game one of the series against the St. Louis Cardinals Double-A affiliate.

NOTES:

MR. POTW: After being named Texas League Player of the Week for June 26 - July 2 prior to the start of the double-dip, Caleb Roberts kept mashing the baseball against the Drillers. Playing in both games of the doubleheader, Roberts went 4-for-7 with a home run in each game, a double, three runs scored, and six RBI. His solo shot in game one made him the first Sod Poodle player this season to leave the yard in three-straight games and the first since Andy Yerzy did it from 8/11-14, 2022. His grand slam in game two made him the first Sod Poodle ever to have a home run in four straight games. In total against the Drillers, Roberts hit a cool .478 (11-for-23) with five home runs, three doubles, 10 RBI and nine runs scored. His current hit streak is at eight games with an XBH in all eight, the first time this year a player in the Texas League has rattled off eight consecutive games with a XBH.

NOT ONE, NOT TWO: A.J. Vukovich turned in a historic game one of the doubleheader for Amarillo. The former fourth-rounder hit three home runs, tying the franchise-high for most home runs in a single game. Edward Olivares had the only other three-HR night in Amarillo threads prior to tonight, doing so on May 5, 2019 on the road in Arkansas. Vukovich's game one also included a career-high seven RBI to go along with the very first three-HR game of his professional career. His seven-RBI game matches Dominic Fletcher's Mother's Day performance from a season ago. For the series, Vukovich hits .421 (8-for-19) with two doubles, three home runs, and 11 RBI. Vukovich leads the club in home runs this season with 15, tying for the most he has ever hit for a single affiliate of his brief professional career. He had 17 combined home runs a season ago between High-A Hillsboro (15) and Amarillo (2) in 117 combined games. He is already at 15 home runs in 62 games played in 2023.

POWER RACER: Jordan Lawlar hit his 11th home run of the season when he raced around the bases for an inside-the-park-home run two batters into the night at the plate for Amarillo. It was Amarillo's first inside the park home run since June 19, 2021 when Luis Alejandro Basabe did it here at HODGETOWN against Wichita. This marks just the fifth inside the park HR for Amarillo since the start of the 2019 season. His quick round trip was the start of the fifth back-to-back home runs this season as A.J. Vukovich hit the first of his most definitely not an inside-the-park home runs of the season. It was the fifth time this year and 21st overall that Amarillo teammates have combined to hit back-to-back home runs.

TIMMY TULSA KILLER: Tim Tawa had an impressive week helping the Sod Poodles take five of six against Tulsa. Tawa hit .364 for the week (8-for-22) with five of his eight hits going for extra bases. Tawa hit four home runs and added a double in six games played. Tawa's 12 home runs in 2023 are tied with Ryan Bliss for the second most by a Sod Poodles player this season.

RECORDS ARE FALLING: Monday's doubleheader saw 10 franchise-records either tied or broken, including the highest single-game attendance record of 7,588 fans.

AMARILLO STEALERS: The Sod Poodles went 25-of-27 on stolen base attempts for the week against Tulsa. The team set a franchise-high with nine steals on Friday night and swiped another eight between the two games on Monday night. Ryan Bliss swiped three bags in game one to tie the franchise-high for stolen bases in a game and has a team-best 29 steals this year. Bliss is 29-of-35 on stolen base attempts this season, just two shy of his single-season best 31 which he set last year with High-A Hillsboro.Nick Dalesandro set the franchise-high for stolen bases in a season with 35 last year. Bliss (29) and Lawlar are well in reach of breaking that this season.

BENJAMIN BLISS: Ryan Bliss is the first minor leaguer this season to reach 100 hits. After his 3-for-5 performance in game one, Bliss has 100 hits in his first 65 games played. He had a total of 91 hits all of last year in 110 games played with High-A Hillsboro.