AMARILLO, TX (June 17, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (33-31) defeated the Midland RockHounds (31-33), 8-3, on Wednesday night at HODGETOWN. Amarillo quickly overcame a 3-0 deficit by putting together a huge bottom of the first and cruised the rest of the way to stay in the race for the Texas League South Division first half title.
Cole Conn and Leo De Vries hit back-to-back jacks to open the game for Midland, later adding another run as Brennan Milone walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly. However, the Sod Poodles would have an answer and then some in their first time to bat.
RockHounds starter Henry Baez could not make it out of the first inning after allowing six straight Amarillo batters to reach base after retiring the leadoff batter. Ben McLaughlin started the party for Amarillo with a two-strike, opposite-field home run.
Midland could not catch its breath once the Soddies got on the board as they continued their comeback bid, first with Jansel Luis’ RBI single after Demetrio Crisantes was hit by a pitch and Gavin Conticello singled. Amarillo tied the game two batters later thanks to an opposite-field single off the bat of Anderdson Rojas.
The Sod Poodles gave their starting pitcher Daniel Eagen a lead to work with once Alberto Barriga followed up Rojas with a go-ahead sacrifice fly. Ryan Magdic relieved Baez after the second out, but couldn’t immediately induce the third out of the inning to Jack Hurley when he hit a grounder to the right side. De Vries made a sliding stop on the other side of second base, but his throw to first was wide of the bag, which allowed two runs to score on the play as Amarillo plated six and batted around the order in the frame.
Eagen settled in after being spotted a three-run cushion and blanked Midland over his last four innings of work, allowing just four baserunners in total. Amarillo extended their lead to four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, doing so by plating Cristofer Torin on an RBI single by Crisantes.
The Soddies saw no drop-off once they opted for the bullpen beginning in the top of the sixth inning, first with Alec Baker logging three scoreless innings. Barriga put the cherry on top for the night with his first Double-A home run on a liner to the opposite field in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Alfred Morillo was called on for the ninth inning, striking out the side to improve Amarillo to two games above .500.
POSTGAME NOTES
HITTING IS CONTAGIOUS: Every player in Amarillo’s batting order recorded a hit as the Soddies totaled 11 on the night...it had been two months since the Sod Poodles last achieved the feat, doing so on April 16 of this year vs. Frisco.
BAKER STREET: Alec Baker turned in his finest outing of the season by tossing 3.0 shutout innings...it matches the longest workload of the year for the righty and it is the fifth scoreless outing of three full frames by a Soddies reliever this year.