For much of the second half of the Texas League season, the Amarillo Sod Poodles had shown the flair for coming up with the big late inning when it counted, one big reason they were the second half TL South Division Champions.
In their Texas League South Division Championship series against the Midland RockHounds, the Sod Poodles showed that one night but not another. Neither time, though, did it result in a win, and explains why their season is now finished.
Going into Thursday’s game two of the series at Midland needing a win to force a third and decisive game, the Sod Poodles couldn’t get their offense going. They didn’t get a runner past second base in the final six innings and lost to Midland 3-1 to lose the series 2-0 and see their season end.
This came two nights after their series opening 8-7 loss to the RockHounds at Hodgetown. The Soddies rallied from a 6-0 deficit and had the potential winning run on first base but Midland made a big time defensive play for the final out of the game and preserve the win, putting the Sod Poodles in a hole heading down to Midland.
Not once in the two games did the Sod Poodles ever hold the lead. The closest they came was Thursday night, when they tied the game 1-1 after Ben McLaughlin drew a bases-loaded walk.
Midland took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth as with one out Nate Nankil singled and Cole Conn walked against Soddies starter Jose Cabrera, who was subsequently pulled for Casey Anderson. Sahind Valenzuela singled and Clark Elliott walked to bring home a run and Leo De Vries singled to bring home another and make it 3-1, ending the game’s scoring.
The Sod Poodles had only three hits, all singles, two of them coming from leadoff hitter Manuel Pena, who scored their only run. They stayed in the game thanks to their bullpen, which threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
That was a far cry from Tuesday’s game, in which the RockHounds took a 3-0 lead with two home runs off Soddies starter Mitch Bratt, a solo homer by 18-year old De Vries (the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball) in the first and a two-run shot by Nankil in the second.
Midland scored three runs in the sixth to go up 6-0 before the Sod Poodles finally came to life offensively. Gavin Logan’s two-run homer got them on the board in the seventh and cut the deficit to 6-2, and Gavin Conticello hit a three-run shot in the eighth to make it 7-5.
Conn’s RBI single boosted Midland’s lead to 8-5 in the top of the ninth, and that turned out to be huge. The Sod Poodles rallied in the bottom of the inning against Midland reliever Shohei Tomioka, as LuJames Groover singled to left with two outs to bring home Logan and cut it to 8-6.
Colton Johnson relieved Tomioka and McLaughlin singled to left on the first pitch to bring home Caleb Roberts and cut it to 8-7, putting runners on the corners. Jose Fernandez then hit a sharp grounder to the left side, but Midland third baseman Josh Kuroda-Grauer made a diving stop to his left and threw out Fernandez to end the game.