Nine walks and Angeles big night sink the Soddies in game three

Coming into Thursday’s contest Sod Poodle pitching had only allowed three walks through the first two games of the series. They would allow 9 walks in game three.

Amarillo for the third straight game struck first in the third inning after Tommy Troy, who returned after being removed from game two on Wednesday, dropped a RBI single in play just inches in front of Clark Elliott who trapped the baseball. There were no early fireworks for the Sod Poodles offense, managing just one extra base hit on the evening, a Ryan Waldschmidt triple that would be erased by a great play at the plate one batter later. Top 100 prospect (Athletics #1 Prospect) Gage Jump, continued his blistering start in his first year of minor league ball after being selected with the 73rd overall pick in last year's draft out of LSU. Jump tossed five innings of three hit baseball, walking one, hitting one, and striking out five Sod Poodles in the process.

Just minutes after Troy gave Amarillo the lead, infielder Euribel Angeles tied it right back up taking Bernal deep in the Midland half of the third. That was only Angeles' fifth home run of the season with four of them coming off of Amarillo pitching. In the fifth Midland second baseman Colby Halter finally found the hit column with a double, setting up Angeles to bring in another run with a ground out. Angeles did all of the damage in the run column for Midland against Bernal for the evening, as the Sod Poodles right hander went 4.1 innings of six hit baseball, walking just one. 

It wasn’t the bullpen's best night. After Philip Abner had a clean outing Jhosmer Alvarez didn’t record an out in his appearance, walking the first four Rockhounds he faced prior to Eli Saul coming in to replace him. Saul got the first two outs of the inning before issuing a walk of his own, bringing in one more Rockhounds run. The damage wasn’t quite done yet, as who else but Euribel Angeles stepped to the plate and delivered a bases clearing double, bringing his RBI total to five on the night. Conor Grammes would close out the night for Amarillo, pitching a pair of scoreless innings despite walking three batters.

Who to watch for this weekend:

Euribel Angeles

Midland - SS - #4

This series:

3/10 - 2 HR, 1 2B, 6 RBI, 2 BB

No kidding right? The Rockhounds infielder has homered in four of his last five games against Amarillo, and none of the games were at the launching pad that is Hodgetown. This season, 20.8% of Angeles' extra base hits have been against Sod Poodles pitching. The Texas League leader in doubles was acquired by the then Oakland A's from the Padres for starting pitcher Sean Manaea in 2022. Angeles is having his best season in over four years, and it has noticeably raised his walk rate 3.7%, and his average has climbed to .297 after hitting .266 in 2024.

Ryan Waldschmidt

Ryan Waldschmidt 

Amarillo - OF - #11

This series:

3/10 - 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 BB

A breakout is bubbling for Ryan Waldschmidt. The Sod Poodles outfielder looks more comfortable at the plate by the day, walking as many times as he did in his first series as he did in the first three games in Midland. Waldschmidt checked off his first Texas League home run at Hodgetown last week, and this week he added his first double and triple to the list as well. Just looking at Waldschmidt at the plate wouldn't been doing his first nine games justice. The first round has played excellent defense so far, making multiple sliding catchs and gunning down a runner at home plate last week.

Ryan Waldschmidt's first Hodgetown Homer against Arkansas last week

Amarillo is back home for 4th of July weekend! Join the fun at Hodgetown to support the Soddies and enjoy the fireworks show!