The Sod Poodles and Tulsa Drillers were tied 3-3 from the sixth inning until the 11th inning on Wednesday night at ONEOK Field, before Drillers infielder Omar Estevez drove in the winning run with a sac fly to hand the Soddies a 4-3 defeat.
Amarillo's pitching staff was extremely solid in the ballgame, with righty Jesse Scholtens tossing six innings of three-run ball for a no-decision.
The Sod Poodles jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second on Brad Zunica's RBI single against Tulsa starter Leo Crawford, but the Drillers tied it against Scholtens in the bottom half of the frame.
Amarillo then plated a run in the fourth on Kyle Overstreet's RBI single and took a 3-1 advantage in the fifth on Hudson Potts' run-scoring single. Potts had two hits in the game, including a triple.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Tulsa tied it. Scholtens allowed a leadoff single to Cody Thomas, and then catcher Connor Wong belted a game-tying two-run homer to left field. The score would stay tied at 3-3 until the final play of the night.
Amarillo's bullpen was splendid. Blake Rogers tossed a scoreless seventh while Javy Guerra made his Double-A debut in the eighth with a scoreless frame. David Bednar tossed two scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th.
In the 11th, righty Nick Kuzia came on and dealt with Tulsa's automatic runner Jordan Procyshen on second base with nobody out. After the runner moved to third on a sac bunt, Estevez lifted a deep drive to left field that brought in the winning run.
Marshall Kosowski, Michael Boyle, Nolan Long, and Yordy Cabrera combined to toss six scoreless frames out of Tulsa's bullpen.
The Sod Poodles and Drillers wrap up their three-game series on Thursday night. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Amarillo sends righty Lake Bachar to the hill while Tulsa counters with righty Markus Solbach.
-Amarillo Sod Poodles
