AMARILLO, TX (August 13, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (22-20, 58-52) fell to the Midland RockHounds (21-21, 53-57), 8-6, on Thursday night at HODGETOWN. Big performances on both sides of the ball had Amarillo in control through the first seven innings, but Midland exploded for six runs in the eighth to win their second straight game.
Soddies starting pitcher David Hagaman made his HODGETOWN debut, and settled in to his new home by striking out six batters in a row from the first through third innings.
By holding the Midland offense at bay, it provided the chance for the Soddies to go in front when Avery Owusu-Asiedu stepped to the dish for his second at-bat against Steven Echavarria. Striking out in their first match-up, the Soddies left fielder could not be kept down for long as he unloaded on a center-cut breaking ball after Angel Ortiz walked to put the hosts up 2-0.
Echavarria could not escape the long ball in his Double-A debut, giving up a 440-foot bomb off the batter’s eye to Jansel Luis to lead off the bottom of the fourth. The trend would continue for both Echavarria and Owusu-Asiedu in their next meeting in the sixth, where the right-handed bat connected with a fastball on the inner half for his fourth home run in his last three games and the fourth Amarillo run of the game.
Hagaman was strong for the entire duration of his 6.2 innings pitched, turning in a quality start and allowing two runs where only one of which was earned. A Luke Mann solo home run that opened the fifth inning interrupted a stretch where five straight RockHounds batters were retired, and Hagaman picked up right where he left off by sitting down the next four.
Casey Yamauchi came in to score after his sixth-inning double by stealing third base and taking the extra base on a throwing error by backstop Gavin Logan to make it a 3-2 game. Amarillo extended their lead on top of Owusu-Asiedu’s second home run of the night by putting together a two-out rally in the home half of the frame on a Junior Franco double and Logan RBI single to go up by three.
Midland flipped the game on its head in the eighth, opening the frame with a Clark Elliott solo home run and Cameron Leary double off Alec Baker. A wild pitch set up Leary to score on a CJ Rodriguez RBI groundout to cut the RockHounds deficit to one.
Alfred Morillo relieved Baker after an error allowed Yamauchi to reach base, but Leo De Vries made a big impact two batters later by tying the game with a double to the gap in left center field. Morillo was unable to stop the bleeding any further, with Mann homering for the second time on the night, this time for a go-ahead, three-run shot.
Luis crushed his second homer of the game to right field to make it 8-6 in favor of the RockHounds in the bottom of the eighth. He would step into the batter’s box again with two outs and the tying run on second base in the bottom of the ninth, but Blaze Pontes got him to chase strike three out of the zone for the final out.
POSTGAME NOTES
A-VERY GOOD START: Avery Owusu-Asiedu hit his third and fourth home runs of the season with the Sod Poodles in just his third game with the team on Thursday...he is the most recent Soddie to homer in three straight games since Gavin Conticello did so from June 9-11 this year at Springfield, who also tallied four long balls in that stretch.
HITTING IS CONTAGIOUS: Avery Owusu-Asiedu and Cristofer Torin both recorded multi-home run games tonight...that feat was last accomplished by a pair of Sod Poodles teammates on September 1, 2023 when Seth Beer and Caleb Roberts combined for five home runs in a game against Midland at HODGETOWN.