Hudson Potts, the youngest position player on the Amarillo Sod Poodles roster, is starting to get comfortable at the plate.
Potts collected a double and a RBI single in his first two at-bats Friday night, leading the Sod Poodles to a 6-2 series-opening victory over the Arkansas Travelers in front of 5,821 at Dickey-Stephens Park.
"It's just been a matter of trusting myself," said Potts, a 20-year-old third baseman who was the San Diego Padres' No. 1 draft pick in 2016. "I've been staying in my zone and waiting for good pitches to hit. I'm just trying to capitalize on those situations."
Potts doubled and scored in the second inning. His third-inning single capped a three-run rally that put the Sod Poodles ahead for good.
Potts came into Friday's game batting .186 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI, but the Southlake, Texas, native has made more of an impact since Amarillo began its first road trip to the Texas League North. Potts is 6 of 22 in the Sod Poodles' past five games.
"We're a young organization as a whole, and it's fun being around all of these young guys," said Potts, who batted .271 in 2018 with 19 home runs and 63 RBI. "It's definitely been exciting. It's kept my energy up."
Potts was not the only young Padres' farmhand to turn in an impressive performance Friday.
Amarillo starter Reggie Lawson (2-1) gave up home runs to Jake Fraley in the first and Nick Zammarelli in the second, but the right-hander was mostly unhittable in his final three innings of work. A second-round draft pick in 2016, the 21-year-old Lawson finished with 9 strikeouts in 5 innings while walking 2 and giving up 4 hits.
The Travelers suffered their fifth loss in their past seven games. Arkansas managed seven hits against three Amarillo pitchers and struck out 11 times.
Amarillo banged out 13 hits, including a bunt double by leadoff batter Rodrigo Orozco to start the ninth inning. Orozco laid down a slow roller down the third-base line that hugged the line but never went foul. By the time Travelers' third baseman Joe DeCarlo fielded the ball, Orozco was sliding safely into second.
"That was crazy," Potts said. "I've seen that before."
Fraley homered for the second time in three games, lifting a two-ball offering from Lawson over the right-center field wall for a 1-0 Arkansas lead. Zammarelli's home run also went out to right-center and extended his hitting streak to five games.
The Sod Poodles used 3 hits and 2 walks to score 3 runs in the third. Nate Easley singled to start the inning. After stealing second, Easley scored on Orozco's double to left field to tie the game at 2-2.
Orozco scored on a Luis Torrens' double-play ground ball, and the single by Potts accounted for the Sod Poodles' third run of the inning.
Edward Olivares and Torrens each had RBI singles in the ninth.
Arkansas starting pitcher Justin Dunn (1-1) lasted four innings. He struck out 6, gave up 6 hits and walked 3.
Amarillo left-hander Kyle McGrath worked 3⅔ innings, but after back-to-back two-out hits in the ninth by Joseph Odom and Jordan Cowan, the Sod Poodles turned to Blake Rogers to get the final out. Rogers threw only two pitches to collect his second save of the year, getting Logan Taylor to fly out to shallow right field.
Sports on 04/27/2019