Soddies by Morning: Sod Poodles Start Slow Again as Henderson Shines

Slow starts continue to plague the Sod Poodles this season, and it was no different on Thursday night losing 8-4 to Springfield. The Soddies went scoreless in the first two innings, keeping their season total in the opening two frames to just 3 total runs, while their opponents racked up 12 runs in those innings.

Springfield starter Ixan Henderson was responsible for 8 of the 13 strikeouts in the evening for the road team, with shortstop Andy Weber dawning a rare platinum sombrero (5 strikeouts in a game). The Cardinals starter struck out Sod Poodle lefties for 7 of his 8 strikeouts in a scoreless 5 inning season debut. Amarillo starter Roman Angelo had to watch, as his college roomate at Fresno State blank his new teammates. Sod Poodle lefties this season have hit a miserable .108 off of left-handed pitching, and there’s more of them in their future with Pete Hansen scheduled to make his second start of the series on Sunday. 

The Cardinals forced Amarillo starter Dylan Ray to throw a lot of pitches early, 40 in the first inning alone, and 21 before recording an out. That wasn’t all his fault as Amarillo’s fielding demons came back to haunt them again when Hurley dropped a Leo Bernal flyball in left field, denying Ray of an out and loading the bases. Ray would go just 3 innings of work, giving up 4 runs but only 2 earned, walking 3, and striking out 4. The right hander threw 68 pitches and just 37 strikes on the evening. Amarillo starter ERA sits at 9.49 through 6 games in 2025.

Despite dropping to 1-5 on the season, there are still some hot bats. Corner infielder Jose Fernandez put together his best outing with a perfect 3/3 night, including a double and a walk. Jeremiah Boyd‘s first hit of the season started the 9th for the Sod Poodles when he took a ball out to Bar 352 in left.

LuJames Groover has been the steady bat that the Sod Poodles have needed this year so far. Groover extended his season hitting streak to 6 games, making it the sixth longest streak of consecutive games from their season debut in team history. Current Seattle Mariner Ryan Bliss put together a 10 game debut in the 2023 championship season. Groover went 3 / 5 last night with a pair of doubles to give him his second straight multi-hit game, and three straight with a double. 222

Tommy Troy has had a great eye all year and drew three more walks last night, to give him 6 in the three games to start this series, and bringing his OBP to spectacular .544. Troy also picked up a single to put his average at .300, .146 points higher than after the home opener on Tuesday, and it was the second time in the series that Troy reached base at least four times.

For the Cardinals Chase Davis continued his tear picking up 2 more hits and drawing a walk. Jeremy Rivas also stayed hot with a 2 hit night of his own with a double, walk, and RBI. Buchberger went deep for the only Springfield home run of the game off of Ray in the 3rd.

Today’s Probable Starters:

RHP Tekoah Roby

Ranger fans might recognize this name, as Roby was traded for Jordan Montgomery with Thomas Saggese, the year Texas won the World Series Championship. Roby will face the organization that Texas beat to capture their first title, as he gets his shot at the Diamondbacks organization that Texas beat.(ironically where Montgomery wound up in Free Agency after that season).Roby put together a solid first outing 4 IP / 2 H / 0 R / 0 ER with a fastball / curveball / changeup / slider mix that produced 9.14 K/9 in 2024 between High-A and Double-A. He is your player to watch tonight

LHP Avery Short

Short will be making his second start of 2025 after only going .2 innings in his first start. The Missions hit 3 home runs off the lefty and he gave up 4 runs before being relieved.

Gametime: 7:05