Soddies Surrender Seven Runs Late In Loss To Arkansas

AMARILLO, TX (July 11, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (8-9, 44-41) fell to the Arkansas Travelers (8-9, 49-37), 8-2, on Saturday night at HODGETOWN. What had the makings of a pitchers duel resulted in a lopsided affair as the Travs broke Amarillo’s three-game win streak.

It was a battle of the pitching staffs through the opening frames this evening. Billy Corcoran took the ball for his second start of the year as a Sod Poodle and excelled in the assignment as the tall righty cruised through his four innings of work, retiring all 12 batters he faced.

On the other side, Adam Leverett was just as good on the bump for Arkansas, keeping his pitch count to a minimum. Only two Sod Poodles had mustered a base hit against him through the first three innings, but the Amarillo squad wrote a different script in the fourth.

With two outs, Ben McLaughlin lined a 3-2 pitch to center to set the table for Alberto Barriga who promptly sent one deep to left-center, clearing the wall for a two-run bomb that broke the goose egg and gave Amarillo the lead.

With Corcoran chased and Alec Baker pitching for the Soddies out of the bullpen, Caleb Cali became the first baserunner of the game for the Travs as he led off the fifth with a single to left. The third baseman would score on Hogan Windish’s double, but Windish was thrown out trying to stretch the two-bagger into a triple by the arm of Druw Jones who hosed him from center field to clear the bags.

The pitchers duel quickly turned into a rout in the top of the eighth as Arkansas posted a seven-run frame that included a bevy of singles and a two-run home run off the bat of Nick Raposo. There would be nothing Amarillo could respond with as they went down in the eighth and ninth without a run, falling by an 8-2 score.

The Soddies are back at HODGETOWN tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. for the series finale against the Travelers before taking a four-day hiatus during the All-Star Break.

POSTGAME NOTES

SETTING THE BARRIGA: Since July 4, Alberto Barriga is batting .333 (7x21) with four extra-base hits and a 1.010 OPS...he has collected a hit in each of his most recent four games and launched his fourth home run of the year as a Soddie tonight, his 12th total dinger between Amarillo and High-A Hillsboro.

EN-CORCORAN: Making his second start of the year for Amarillo tonight was Billy Corcoran...the 6-foot, 8-inch right-hander turned in the longest perfect start by a Soddie this year, facing the minimum through his four innings of work...Jose Cabrera was the only other pitcher to take a perfect start into the fourth inning this year, but he surrendered a leadoff homer in the fourth during his outing on April 24 that broke up the perfect game bid.