Soddies Drop Extra-Inning Battle With Naturals
AMARILLO, TX (August 27, 2025) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (65-57) fell to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (61-61), 9-8, in 10 innings on Wednesday night at HODGETOWN. The Soddies fought back from an early hole, but ultimately succumbed to a late rally by the visitors in the extra-innings battle. Three
AMARILLO, TX (August 27, 2025) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (65-57) fell to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (61-61), 9-8, in 10 innings on Wednesday night at HODGETOWN. The Soddies fought back from an early hole, but ultimately succumbed to a late rally by the visitors in the extra-innings battle.
Three consecutive extra-base hits by the Naturals in the first yielded two runs to give the visitors the early lead. A wild pitch allowed the third Northwest Arkansas run to score in the inning. After Amarillo loaded the bases in the home half, Caleb Roberts sent a fly ball deep enough to left to allow Ryan Waldschmidt to score on a sacrifice fly to put the Soddies on the board. Two fifth inning walks gave LuJames Groover an opportunity with a runner in scoring position and the third baseman capitalized, singling home a run to cut the deficit to one.
A two-out sixth inning rally tied the game as Jean Walters doubled down the left field line to bring in the tying run and Gavin Conticello launched his eighth homer of the year to give the Sod Poodles the 5-3 lead. Jose Fernandez checked in with an RBI knock to bring the Amarillo total to six.
The Naturals rallied late, plating a run on a bases-loaded walk in the eighth and taking the lead on a ninth inning Spencer Nivens sacrifice fly. Amarillo equalized on a Conticello single in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras. Carson Roccaforte smacked a two-run bomb in the 10th which proved to be enough as Amarillo could only muster one run in the home half, dropping the extra-innings affair by a 9-8 score.
The series continues tomorrow with RHP Jonatan Bernal (4-2, 4.25) and LHP Ryan Ramsey (6-8, 5.50) scheduled to start.
POSTGAME NOTES
SWEET BABY LUJAMES: Collecting three knocks this evening was LuJames Groover...the Texas League hits leader brings his total to 125 for the year, moving into fifth on the all-time Sod Poodles leaderboard for most hits in a season, passing A.J. Vukovich (124, 2024).
CAPTAIN JACK: Extending his hit streak to 10 games tonight was Jack Hurley as the designated hitter turned in a multi-hit performance...he is posting a .951 OPS over those games.