Melendez Mashes Walk-Off Dinger To Complete Pointy Boots Comeback

AMARILLO, TX (July 29, 2025) -- The Pointy Boots de Amarillo (49-48) defeated the Wichita Wind Surge (52-45), 10-8, on Tuesday night at HODGETOWN. Amarillo’s seventh walk-off win of the year came via the long ball, completing a comeback that saw the Pointy Boots down five runs in the seventh.

Opening the series on the hill for the Pointy Boots was Alec Baker as the righty twirled two scoreless innings to begin play this evening. Amarillo put traffic on the basepaths in the home half of the second, putting runners on second and third with one out. Jack Hurley came up to the dish for his first Amarillo at-bat since May 29 and drew a walk. Ball four to Hurley was a wild pitch, allowing Jose Fernandez to sprint home to score the inaugural run for the home squad.

With Christian Cerda advancing to third on the errant pitch in Hurley’s plate appearance, he later scored on a groundout in Manuel Pena’s at-bat to bring the Amarillo total to two in the second.

The Wind Surge countered in the top of the third as Minnesota’s top-ranked prospect, Walker Jenkins, crushed a solo home run onto the right field berm to put Wichita on the board. Gabriel Gonzalez followed up the center fielder with a bomb of his own to complete back-to-back home runs to even the score. Kyler Fedko added an RBI double later in the frame to give Wichita the one-run lead.

The score would hold until the bottom of the sixth when Cerda lined a home run over the left field wall to knot the score at three apiece. Wichita put distance between themselves and the Pointy Boots in the top of the seventh as they put together a five-run frame. RBI singles from Rubel Cespedes and Jorel Ortega was followed by a Kaelen Culpepper RBI double to give the Wind Surge a significant lead late in the game.

Amarillo fought back after the stretch, plating a pair on Ryan Waldschmidt’s single up the middle to cut the deficit to three. After Waldschmidt moved up to third on a balk and a groundout, he scored on a fielding error in Cerda’s at-bat. Capping the seventh-inning scoring was Ivan Melendez as he flared one down the right field line to bring the Pointy Boots within a run.

Gavin Conticello drew a walk to open the bottom of the ninth and came around to score on Fernandez’s double to tie the game at eight, erasing the five-run hole. With two outs and Melendez at the dish, the designated hitter launched the first pitch he saw high into the Amarillo night sky, sailing it beyond the left field wall for a walk-off two-run blast, sealing the 10-8 Pointy Boots victory

The Sod Poodles are back in action tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night against the Wind Surge. RHP Jose Cabrera (5-4, 5.38) is scheduled to make the start for Amarillo while Wichita counters with RHP C.J. Culpepper (0-0, 1.83).

POSTGAME NOTES

BIG (FLY) TEXAN: Coming up clutch with the walk-off homer was Ivan Melendez as the designated hitter went 2-for-4 with three RBI...his 50th Double-A home run was also the first walk-off bomb in the Texan’s professional career...his 16 home runs leads Sod Poodles this year and ranks second in the Texas League behind Kyler Fedko (WCH, 20).

WALK-OFF WARRIORS: The Sod Poodles have won seven games this season on walk-offs...Ivan Melendez, Christian Cerda, and Jean Walters are the only ones with walk-off home runs.