Sod Poodles Weekly: Red-hot offense charging into Springfield series
The Soddies bats are red-hot entering a new six-game series against the Springfield Cardinals this week.
Amarillo launched a total of 19 home runs last week at home against Midland and totaled six home runs in Sunday's 18-9 victory.
The trio of Corbin Carroll, Dominic Fletcher, and Blaze Alexander each hit a pair of home runs on Sunday to close out the week 3-3 against the visiting RockHounds.
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Carroll, the Arizona Diamondbacks' No. 2 prospect, sent five long bombs over the fence last week to up his season total to nine. In 24 games this season, the 21-year-old 2019 first round pick (16th overall) is 31-for-95 (.326) with 31 runs and 17 RBI.
One of his usual partners in the outfield is Fletcher, who is arguably just as hot at the plate as we move further into the second month of the season.
In four games last week, Fletcher was 8-for-18 (.444) with five home runs, six runs scored, and 10 RBI.
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Other Amarillo batters to hit one out of the park last week were the pair of Eduardo Diaz and Juan Centeno, who each hit a pair, and the group of Jorge Barrosa, Jancarlos Cintron, and Ti'Quan Forbes each hit one.
Amarillo now owns an 14-13 overall record and will now face Springfield — the affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals — for the first time since 2019.
Springfield (11-16) enters the new week coming off of a 2-4 homestand against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
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The Cardinals top-rated prospects that are currently playing in Springfield are third basemen Jordan Walker (No. 1) and Malcom Nunez (No. 13). Walker was drafted 21st overall by St. Louis in the 2020 MLB Draft. He is 27-for-89 (.303) with one home run, 20 runs scored, and nine RBI through 24 games played this season.
Springfield is in last-place in the Texas League North Division, while the Sod Poodles are sitting second in the South Division.
Amarillo is 6-6 on the road this season while the Cardinals have put together a 6-9 record at home.
For results from the contests, visit www.amarillo.com/sports.
This week's series
Opponent: Springfield Cardinals
Schedule: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday-Wednesday; 6:35 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 6:05 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Where: Hammons Field, Springfield
Records: Sod Poodles 14-13; Cardinals 11-16
What to know: Springfield is ninth in the Texas League in team batting average (.237) with Amarillo ahead of them and leading the league (.306). The Sod Poodles are also first in home runs (48) with the Cardinals behind them in fifth (30). Springfield is seventh in runs scored (145) with the Soddies sitting comfortably at the top of the league leaderboards in first place (209). The Cardinals pitching staff ranks in the middle of the league and are fifth in team ERA (5.30) with the Soddies rotation behind them in last-place (6.58).
SOD POODLES SEASON LEADERS
HITTING
• Average: Leandro Cedeno .378; Juan Centeno .342; Corbin Carroll .326
• OBP: Corbin Carroll .458; Leandro Cedeno .435; Dominic Fletcher .377
• Doubles: Jancarlos Cintron 8; Leandro Cedeno 7; Corbin Carroll 6
• Triples: Eduardo Diaz 2; Blaze Alexander, Corbin Carroll, Dominic Fletcher, Ti'Quan Forbes 1
• HR: Corbin Carroll 9; Leandro Cedeno 7; Dominic Fletcher 6
• RBI: Dominic Fletcher 30; Leandro Cedeno 22; Juan Centeno, Jancarlos Cintron 19
• Runs: Corbin Carroll 27; Dominic Fletcher 21; Leandro Cedeno, Juan Centeno, Eduardo Diaz 19
PITCHING
• ERA: Brandon Pfaadt 4.38; Bryce Jarvis 5.25; Slade Cecconi 6.66
• Innings pitched: Slade Cecconi 25 2/3; Brandon Pfaadt 24 2/3; Bryce Jarvis 24
• Wins: Jeff Bain, Drey Jameson, Bryce Jarvis, Justin Lewis, Blake Workman 2
• Saves: Junior Garcia 3; Blake Rogers, Blake Workman 1
• Strikeouts: Brandon Pfaadt 34; Slade Cecconi 28; Drey Jameson 23
• Walks: Bryce Jarvis 12; Brett de Geus 11; Kenny Hernandez 7
Sod Poodles Roster moves
May 1: LHP Blake Walston transferred to High-A Hillsboro
May 7: RHP Justin Vernia placed on Amarillo DL
May 7: RHP Josh Green transferred to Amarillo from Triple-A Reno
Looking back
TUESDAY, MAY 3
SOD POODLES 8, ROCKHOUNDS 3
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Dominic Fletcher 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI; Corbin Carroll 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI; Justin Lewis 2 IP, 2 H, 3 SO
RockHounds: Chase Calabuig 3-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI; Logan Davidson 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI; Brock Whittlesey 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 SO
Highlights: Amarillo pulled out a five-run win despite Midland recording one more hit than them in the game. Fletcher and Carroll combined for three home runs in the win to start the week.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4
SOD POODLES 11, ROCKHOUNDS 3
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Ti'Quan Forbes 3-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI; Jancarlos Cintron 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI; Ryan Weiss 2 IP, 3 SO
RockHounds: Jordan Diaz 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI; Chase Calabuig 1-4, 1 RBI; Wandisson Charles 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
Highlights: Amarillo notched four runs in the first and 10 in the first four innings to jump out to a big lead that they held for the entire night. Bryce Jarvis (2-0) picked up his second win of the season on the mound for Amarillo.
THURSDAY, MAY 5
ROCKHOUNDS 3, SOD POODLES 0
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Ti'Quan Forbes 2-4; Jorge Barrosa 2-4; Justin Vernia 2 IP, 1 H, 4 SO
RockHounds: Jordan Diaz 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI; Logan Davidson 1-3, 1 RBI; Jack Cushing 5 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 SO
Highlights: Amarillo was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base in a shutout loss to Midland in the middle of the week.
FRIDAY, MAY 6
ROCKHOUNDS 4, SOD POODLES 2
Sod Poodles: Dominic Fletcher 1-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI; Blaze Alexander 2-4, 1 R; Brandon Pfaadt 5 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
RockHounds: Max Schuemann 5-5, 2 R, 1 RBI; Zack Gelof 2-4, 2 RBI; Ty Damron 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO
Highlights: Midland built a 3-0 lead and held on for their second straight win over the Soddies. The RockHounds recorded 12 hits while Amarillo notched seven on Friday night.
SATURDAY, MAY 7
ROCKHOUNDS 12, SOD POODLES 11
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Eduardo Diaz 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI; Corbin Carroll 2-4, 2 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI; Josh Green 2 IP, 1 BB, 2 SO
RockHounds: Jordan Diaz 4-5, 2 HR, 3 R, 6 RBI; Kyle McCann 2-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI; Colin Peluse 5 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Highlights: The two teams combined for 29 hits and 23 runs in a high-scoring affair at Hodgetown on Saturday night. The bats were alive and both sides had a total of eight home runs sent over the fence.
SUNDAY, MAY 8
SOD POODLES 18, ROCKHOUNDS 9
Top performers
Sod Poodles: Dominic Fletcher 4-6, 2 HR, 3 R, 7 RBI; Corbin Carroll 2-5, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI; Blaze Alexander 3-6, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
RockHounds: Zack Gelof 2-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI; William Simoneit 2-4, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI; Garrett Acton 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 4 SO
Highlights: Amarillo had 21 hits and six home runs in a home run derby style win over Midland to close out the week. The RockHounds notched five homers of their own but had only nine hits and could not keep pace with the high-powered Soddie offense.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Sod Poodles Weekly: Red-hot offense charging into Springfield series
