Soddies By Morning: Sod Poodles Take Series From San Antonio

Series: Game 1: 15-4 AMA / Game 2: 4-2 AMA / Game 3: 13-11 SA Game 4: 6-4 (7) AMA / Game 5: 5-3 (7) AMA / Game 6: 5-4 SA

First and foremost we want to send our thoughts to those who were caught in the storms on Friday night. We got a double dose of baseball on Saturday that kicked off with a matchup between San Antonio’s Jackson Wolf and Amarillo’s Roman Angelo. Angelo was coming off his best start of the season in Frisco where he went 6.1 IP, giving up 1 run/earned, 2 walks and struck out 6 Roughriders. The right hander continued to trend up on Saturday despite what the box score looked like. He gave up a blast that seemingly by every account on the field or in the ballpark looked completely foul, but would be ruled a fair ball by the third base umpire. Moises Gomez rounded the bases for a two-run shot, and cut the Amarillo lead to 4-3. Angelo’s book would close with tossing 5.0 IP, 4 runs/earned on 6 hits, 3 walks and 1 strikeout. Angelo got ahead in the count a great rate on Saturday starting hitters off with 18/26 first pitch strikes.

The Sod Poodles continued their trend of starting earlier, getting aboard with the first two hitters against Wolf in the first. LuJames Groover once again hit Missions pitching singling in Kristian Robinson to strike first blood against the Missions lefty before Cerda grounded out to score Tommy Troy. Robinson singled in the first, but didn’t have to wait long to face Wolf again. Robinson came up in the second inning and sent a 2-2 pitch to the top of the center field fence for a 2-Run shot, giving him the team lead in home runs alone for a a few hours. At the end of game one Robinson couldn’t be hotter, reaching base in 10 of his 16 plate appearances, sending 3 homers out of Hodgetown and still walking 6 times in those 4 games. Since starting the season 1-9 against this Missions staff, Robinson by the end of the weekend would extend his on base streak to 17 games. The Sod Poodles would take immediate advantage of the Mission’s bullpen and Jose Espada after he replaced Jackson Wolf in the sixth when after Amarillo put three of their first four men in the inning on base, Jose Fernandez gave the Sod Poodles the lead for good with his second hit of the day and 1 of his 8 in the series.

The Sod Poodles bullpen came in and handled business to close the game. Zach Barnes relieved Angelo in the 6th inning and didn’t allow a hit, walking only a single batter, and striking out a pair of Mission’s before giving way to Alfred Morillo. Morillo’s day wasn’t quite as smooth as Barnes but still had a positive result, allowing two walks in the inning, but cleaning up his mess after each of them for his second save of 2025.

Starter Jose Cabrera climbed the hill for Amarillo to start game two Saturday and turned in his second start of at least 6 innings this season. Those six innings would be a major lift in a game with only seven innings. The Sod Poodles right hander once again was deliberate and posted a season high with 7 strikeouts while only allowing 3 runs on the night, 2 of which came in the fifth inning when Fransisco Acuna belted his 5th home run of the season.

Despite the second game of the double header serving as Scooby-Doo night, there was no mystery who the player of the game was. LuJames Groover went back to back with Gavin Conticello, for the second time this series, in the first inning before the Sod Poodles third basemen stepped to the plate in the third inning facing Lizarraga for a second time.

“I saw him throw a heater first pitch, it was probably above the zone. I was trying to push him down. The report on this guy, his stuff plays best in the bottom of the zones so if you’re going to err on a side, miss up.” Groover explained postgame on Saturday. “Then he left another breaking ball, that was probably a ball but I thought it was hittable at the top of the zone, and I like the ball at the top of the zone, so I thought I could get up there and play with him. I took a good swing and was able to capitalize on it.” He capitalized on it without a doubt sending his fourth home run of the season to left and he second off of the Padres #13 Prospect (MLB Pipeline). Groover would finish his day 3-3 picking up another hit and a walk to finish his best game as a Sod Poodle so far. Manuel Pena would crush his first Double-A Home Run in the second game on Saturday to continue his hot start in Amarillo.

Thanks to Cabrera’s 6 innings the bullpen only needed to get three outs to finish the double header, and Javier Colina called on Jhosmer Alvarez to do the job. Alvarez would immediately get a ground out from Wyatt Hoffman, before allowing his only baserunner in Fransisco Acuna. That wouldn’t be an issue, as the Sod Poodles right handed reliever struck out the next two Missions to sweep the double header.

Dylan Ray vs San Antonio

Remeber LuJames Groover? He Homered again on Sunday, this time off of Padres #19 prospect Jagger Haynes, at one point he had hit home runs in 3 of his last 4 at bats going back to game two on Saturday. That was Groover’s 5th homer of the season, tying him with Kristian Robinson for the team lead in dingers, putting them just 2 behind Tulsa’s Jose Ramos for the Texas League lead. The blast gave the Sod Poodles an early 1-0 lead. Jose Fernadez drove in his fourth RBI of the series in the second inning, and Kristian Robinson would once again take a walk, this time with the bases loaded and scoring a run. The Sod Poodles had a shot to take the lead in the eigth when they loaded the bases again, but were stifled by a great outing by Stephen Jones.

The Missions would jump on Amarillo starter Dylan Ray in the second inning after allowing two baserunners in the first inning. San Antonio’s first four batters would reach base after a pair of singles and a pair of walk. A balk would make the score 3-1 San Antonio, but Ray sat down the next 3 Missions, spinning 2 strikouts in the process. Ray would leave the game at the end of the third innings after it looked like he played through some discomfort to finish the frame. Thanks to the short work load on Saturday, the bullpen arms were ready to go on Sunday. Amarillo would use five arms in 6 innings of work, with Alec Baker allowing the only run, but the bats couldn’t quite give them enough help just this time ending the game 5-4 San Antonio.

Landon Sims: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K on Sunday

Saturday’s second win clinched the Sod Poodles first series win in 2025, and have bounced back after starting 2-10 winning 6 of their last nine games against the top two teams in their division. “You know we didn’t start the way we wanted to but we’re starting to clean it up.” LuJames Groover said on Saturday night after sweeping the doubleheader. “The pitching has done really well, the hitting has turned up as well, and were just taking it one game at a time not get too far ahead of ourselves, one pitch one AB at a time and we go from there.” Groover isn’t the only teammate that feels good about this team. “I think we have a great group. I said it before the season, before that first few series and the outcome that we had, but this is a talented group.” Kristian Robinson said on Friday. “We have a lot of guys with a lot of talent and good minds and heads on their shoulders. We have a good squad and everyone understands what it takes to get better.”

The Sod Poodles (8-13) will try to carry their momentum with them to Midland on Tuesday to take on the Rockhounds (11-10) at 11:00 AM for game one of a 6 game set.