FRISCO, TEXAS — Playoff baseball is back in Frisco for the first time since 2022. Thursday night, the crowd of 5,969 witnessed Sebastian Walcott hit his first postseason home run wearing a RoughRiders uniform. It was also his first career postseason hit. The crowd left disappointed as the RoughRiders squandered a 5-0 first-inning lead — extended to 6-0 in the second — and fell 12-7 to the Amarillo Sod Poodles on Thursday, evening the Texas League South Division Series at one game apiece and forcing a decisive Game 3 Friday night at Riders Field.
Frisco (1-1) jumped on Amarillo starter David Hagaman, a former Rangers farmhand, for five runs in the first inning. Gleider Figuereo opened the scoring with a two-run double, and Max Wagner followed with a two-run double of his own to make it 5-0.
Sebastian Walcott extended the lead in the second inning with a leadoff solo home run, his first playoff hit and home run in a RoughRiders uniform. The homer left the bat at 107.04 mph and put Frisco ahead 6-0. Walcott finished the night 2-for-4 with the home run, an RBI, a walk and a stolen base.
Malcolm Moore was the only other Frisco player with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two walks.
Cole Stasio started for Frisco and worked a scoreless top of the first. Stasio was solid in his portion of the game. He finished with 3.0 innings pitched, allowing one run on two hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Sod Poodles Take Control
Amarillo (1-1) answered from the third inning on. Alberto Barriga's home run in the third cut the deficit to 6-1, beginning a stretch in which the Sod Poodles scored in four straight innings. Amarillo added two runs in the fourth, and Ben McLaughlin hit a solo home run in the fifth.
Frisco starter Brian Curley kept the Riders scoreless from the third through the sixth, and Druw Jones gave Amarillo its first lead of the game in the sixth with a go-ahead, two-run single, making it 7-6.
RoughRiders Tie It, Then Fall Apart
Frisco answered in the seventh, tying the game 7-7 on an RBI single from Paxton Kling.
The eighth inning proved decisive. Zach Bryant (0-1) issued a two-out walk, and Danny Serretti followed with a bases-clearing double off Wily Villar, putting Amarillo back on top 10-7.
McLaughlin added his second home run of the night in the ninth, a two-run shot that extended the lead to 12-7. Sawyer Hawks closed out the ninth to secure the win and send the series to a deciding Game 3.
By the Numbers
Frisco's pitching staff issued 10 walks and used eight pitchers over the course of the game. The RoughRiders also committed three errors.
Pitching Lines:
Cole Stasio: 3.0 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 SO, 56/36 (pitches/strikes)
Austin Roberts: 0.2 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 1 H, 2 BB, 20/9 (pitches/strikes)
Joey Danielson: 0.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 14/11 (pitches/strikes)
Kai Wynyard: 0.2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 BB (WP), 19/8 (pitches/strikes)
Brock Porter: 1.0 IP, 3 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 34/14 (pitches/strikes)
Zach Bryant (L, 0-1): 2.0 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 SO, 43/26 (pitches/strikes)
Wily Villar: 0.2 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 30/19 (pitches/strikes)
Ben Anderson: 0.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 20/11 (pitches/strikes)
Looking Ahead
The RoughRiders and Sod Poodles play a winner-take-all Game 3 tonight at Riders Field, with the winner advancing to the Texas League Championship Series.
