MIDLAND, TX (May 28, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (25-22) fell to the Midland RockHounds (25-23), 2-1, on Thursday night at Momentum Bank Ballpark. While Amarillo starting pitching continued to dominate, they could not outlast the RockHounds long enough, falling by a one-run score in walk-off fashion.
Building a bit of momentum in the first inning were the Sod Poodles as Jansel Luis benefited from a dropped third strike that got away from the Midland catcher to allow the third baseman to reach first safely. While Luis got himself into scoring position after a stolen base, the Soddies were unable to scratch a run and left the opening frame scoreless.
Toeing the rubber for Amarillo following two straight shutout wins was Avery Short who worked efficiently to continue to blank Midland bats through the first few frames. The lefty fanned a pair of batters in the second inning and worked around a single and two stolen bases by Cole Conn in the third to continue to hang zeroes for the visitors.
Leading off the top of the fourth was Manuel Pena who reached on a catcher’s interference. A pair of dribblers followed, moving Pena over to third, giving Gavin Conticello an opportunity to collect a two-out RBI. The right fielder capitalized, driving the first pitch fastball up the middle to bring home the first run of the night and give Amarillo the advantage.
Short trotted back out to the hill and ended up retiring nine batters in a row from the third through the sixth before issuing a free pass to Bobby Boser. The lefty induced a 6-4-3 double play however to retire the side and finish his sixth scoreless inning, capping his quality start.
Midland broke through for the first time all series in the bottom of the eighth after Justin Riemer led off the home half with a single. A stolen base and a sacrifice bunt moved him up to third and the shortstop scored on Carlos Pacheco’s sacrifice fly to center to tie the game.
Luis once again found himself in scoring position in the ninth, allowing a chance for the Soddies to take the lead back, but the opportunity was squandered. The RockHounds went back to the dugout to walk-off Amarillo and did so successfully after they loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman to set the table for Euribiel Angeles who drove in the winning run with a single to left.
POSTGAME NOTES
LUIS YOURSELF: Extending his hit streak to eight games this evening was Jansel Luis...the infielder is batting .467 (14x30) over that span with seven runs, six RBI, and a 1.215 OPS.
A-VERY QUALITY START: Turning in his first quality start of the year and a season-high five strikeouts tonight was Avery Short...it was the longest outing of the season for the lefty and he is now posting a 2.45 ERA in the month of May, allowing only six earned runs over 22.0 innings of work.