Avery Owusu-Asiedu gave Amarillo the swing it needed almost immediately Sunday afternoon, the kind that can make a dugout breathe easier before the game has had time to settle. Trent Youngblood had already beaten out a soft grounder to third to stretch his on-base streak to 24 games, and Owusu-Asiedu followed by sending his 12th Sod Poodles homer out to left, a first-inning bolt that put Amarillo up two runs at Riders Field.
That was the loud part. The trouble was everything after it.
Frisco answered quickly, flipped the game with a two-out rally in the fourth, and held Amarillo scoreless over the final eight innings in a 3-2 RoughRiders win. The Sod Poodles finished with six hits, left eight men on base and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, letting an early edge and several middle-inning chances slip into a one-run loss.
Owusu-Asiedu was the center of what Amarillo did get. He went 2-for-3 with the homer, a hit-by-pitch and a strikeout, and his first-inning drive gave David Hagaman a 2-0 lead before the right-hander had thrown a pitch. Youngblood’s speed helped create the inning when Rafe Perich lost his footing trying to handle the leadoff grounder, leaving no realistic recovery time with Youngblood running.
Pregame, manager Javier Colina had talked about how much Youngblood’s table-setting had meant to Amarillo’s lineup.
“I think he’s the right guy, he’s doing an incredible job, and I’m so happy for him.”
— Javier Colina, Amarillo Sod Poodles Manager
Frisco cut into the lead before Hagaman could settle into a cushion. Sebastian Walcott opened the bottom of the first with his eighth homer, driving a ball to left-center that cleared the yard and made it 2-1. Hagaman steadied after that, getting through the rest of the first and working around two singles in the second, then putting together a quiet third.
The game turned in the fourth, and it turned after Hagaman was nearly out of it.
Perich led off with a single to right, then moved up on Yeison Morrobel’s groundout. Hagaman struck out Max Wagner for the second out, but the inning reopened when Ian Moller walked, with a wild pitch in the sequence moving Perich to third. Marcus Lee Sang followed by shooting a hard grounder through the middle to bring in Perich and tie the game.
Luke Hanson made the inning hurt more. His sharp single went off Cristofer Torin’s glove as the shortstop ranged left, deflecting into center field. Moller scored from second, Lee Sang moved to third, and Frisco had the 3-2 lead it would never give back.
Lee Sang, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI, was in the middle of both Frisco threats against Hagaman. He had singled in the second to send Morrobel to third, though Hagaman escaped that inning when Hanson grounded into a force out. In the fourth, Lee Sang’s game-tying single gave Hanson the chance to push Frisco in front.
Amarillo had its chances against Thomas Ireland and the Frisco bullpen. Owusu-Asiedu singled in the third but was stranded. Druw Jones and Junior Franco both reached in the fourth, but Jean Walters popped out to end the inning. Youngblood walked to start the fifth before Josh Trentadue entered and retired the next three hitters. Matt O’Neill drew his second walk in the sixth, and Walters singled in the seventh before Owusu-Asiedu was hit by a pitch, but the Sod Poodles could not push across the tying run.
That was the contrast to the team identity Colina had described before the game, when Amarillo still had a chance to clinch a playoff spot and win the series.
“They want to win. You know, it’s not evil. You know, you can see we always score a bunch of runs, late innings, good quality A-Bs.”
— Javier Colina, Amarillo Sod Poodles Manager
This time, the late innings belonged to Frisco’s arms. Jonathan Brand worked around O’Neill’s sixth-inning walk. Joey Danielson stranded Walters and Owusu-Asiedu in the seventh. Bryan Magdaleno took the final six outs for his third save, striking out two over two scoreless innings and retiring Amarillo in order in the eighth and ninth.
Hagaman took the loss after allowing three earned runs over 5.1 innings with five strikeouts and one walk. His day ended after Wagner’s sixth-inning infield single, but Antonio Menendez kept the deficit at one by getting out of the sixth and working through the seventh. Tayler Montiel added a scoreless eighth with a strikeout.
Frisco outhit Amarillo 8-6, and neither team committed an error. The difference was smaller than the frustration it left behind: one two-out rally, one deflected grounder, and too many Amarillo runners still standing where they were when the inning ended.
Colina’s pregame view of the playoff push was built around narrowing the focus, not letting one afternoon become larger than it was.
“But let’s take care of business one game at a time. You know, control what we can control.”
— Javier Colina, Amarillo Sod Poodles Manager