AMARILLO, TX (September 12, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (41-27, 77-59) defeated the San Antonio Missions (27-41, 58-79), 9-6, on Saturday night at HODGETOWN. Powered by a five-run fifth inning and what wound up being a crucial three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, Amarillo extended its winning streak to five games.
The Soddies opened the scoring in the bottom of the second after having the first two batters record base hits. A pair of two productive outs moved Angel Ortiz over and in for the first run of the night, scoring on Junior Franco’s sacrifice fly.
However, Amarillo’s starting pitcher Wellington Aracena struggled with command throughout his 5.0 innings pitched, which San Antonio took advantage of in the top of the third. The first two Missions batters in the frame earned a base on balls before two ground ball outs to the right side allowed the tying run to score. Jack Costello snuck a single past the diving Gavin Logan down the first base line in the next at-bat to plate Romeo Sanabria and give San Antonio a 2-1 lead.
The Sod Poodle bats were fairly quiet over their next two turns to bat, but were able to break through against southpaw Jamie Hitt as he began his fifth inning of work. Consecutive infield singles by the bottom two batters in the Amarillo lineup were followed by a base knock into left field by Danny Serretti to load the bases and end Hitt’s night.
Eric Yost relieved Hitt, but command eluded the right-hander immediately as his first two pitches went to the backstop and allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score. Cristofer Torin padded the lead two pitches later with a seeing-eye single through the right side while Logan rounded out the five-run frame with a double to the opposite field.
The trio of Antonio Menendez, Josh Grosz, and Carlos Rey were solid from the sixth through eighth innings, each recording three outs as the Missions were only able to scratch across a lone run over that span on a two-out single by Sanabria in the top of the seventh.
After coming up just short of a home run in his second at-bat, Serretti left no doubt in the bottom of the eighth by crushing a three-run blast to right field to put the Soddies up 9-3.
Those insurance runs would prove to be valuable as San Antonio showed life in the top of the ninth. Back-to-back home runs off Sawyer Hawks by Sanabria and Alex McCoy made it a three-run game, while the Missions brought the tying run to the plate before Soddies manager Javier Colina opted for Will Mabrey to record the final out.
The southpaw got Brendan Durfee to pop out for the 27th out, securing the win and Mabrey’s first save of the season.
POSTGAME NOTES
YES SERRETTI: Danny Serretti slotted into the leadoff spot for the Sod Poodles and did not miss a beat, reaching base four times and driving in three runs on his eighth inning home run...the switch-hitting infielder has now homered in two straight games and has five hits in his last seven at-bats.
MISSION LOG: Saturday night’s victory against San Antonio marked the 17th of the season against the Missions, tying a franchise record for the most wins against one opponent in a season...the 2019 Texas League Champion team went 17-12 against Midland that year.