The Arkansas Travelers and the Amarillo Sod Poodles got reacquainted during a three-game Texas League series that ended Sunday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
They might just be getting started.
Amarillo, the first-half champion in the South Division, beat first-half North Division champion Arkansas 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 5,799.
The victory gave the Sod Poodles a 2-1 series victory, but Arkansas leads the season series 5-4.
The teams are scheduled for four more games in Amarillo beginning Friday to conclude the regular season.
From there, it's playoff time in the Texas League -- Arkansas hosts Tulsa on Sept. 4-5 -- and it's possible these two will meet again in the Texas League finals if both advance past the first round.
"No doubt," Arkansas pitching coach Pete Woodward said. "It's us vs. them. One-hundred percent."
Amarillo Manager Phillip Wellman, who spent the 2014 season managing the Travelers when they were affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels, wouldn't be averse to returning to North Little Rock in three weeks, if it turns out that way.
"I like it here," Wellman said, reflecting on 2014. "Memorable summer. Great group of kids. Playoffs, it was fun."
Sunday, with storm clouds hovering, Amarillo built a 5-0 third-inning lead and got six innings of shutout pitching from Ronald Bolanos (8-4, 4.16 ERA).
The Sod Poodles jumped on Arkansas starter Ricardo Sanchez (8-11, 4.03) for 7 hits and 5 earned runs, but Sanchez finished by retiring the final 10 hitters he faced.
"More aggressive," Sanchez said, talking about how he turned his start around.
Woodward said he was pleased with how Sanchez and catcher Nick Thurman adapted after getting hit hard through the first 2 2/3 innings, an assault that included Ivan Castillo's eighth home run, a 426-foot shot to left in the third inning.
"You got hit, you didn't pout," Woodworth told Sanchez, a 22-year-old from Venezuela. "You made that adjustment after the third inning. That's the best you've pitched."
How did Sanchez adjust?
"He started utilizing all three of his pitches," Woodworth said. "He started executing. That's the name of the game."
Arkansas scored two runs off Amarillo reliever Nick Kuzia in the bottom of the seventh, on Logan Taylor's sacrifice fly and Jordan Cowan's RBI single to center, but the threat ended when first baseman Evan White was ruled to have a swung at ball in the dirt from reliever Dauris Valdez.
White slammed his helmet to the ground and was kicked out of the game by home-plate umpire Brian Walsh.
Arkansas did not threaten again.
Both teams were packing their bags after the game, with the Travelers scheduled to make a nearly 10-hour trip (642 miles) to Corpus Christi, Texas, where they begin a four-game series with the Hooks tonight.
Arkansas gets back on its buses on Thursday night for another 10-hour trip, from Corpus Christi to Amarillo, where the Travs complete the regular season against the Sod Poodles.
Wellman said Amarillo, which holds a two-game lead in the South after winning the first half, is not focused on who it will or might meet in the playoffs.
"My goal is to know my team better than anyone else," Wellman said. "I put my guys in a position to succeed. I don't care who we're playing. I know who runs, I know who can hit. But I don't need to know their team."
Wellman pointed out his San Antonio team (now based in Amarillo) won a first-round series against Corpus Christi last season, after Corpus Christi won 22 of 32 in the regular season.
"Playoffs [are] a different animal," Wellman said.
Woodworth said there is no question the Travelers know North Division rivals Northwest Arkansas, Tulsa and Springfield a little better than the teams from the South.
But Woodworth said the Travs know enough about the South.
"We know their hitters, they know our hitters," Woodworth said. "It's all about who's going to execute."
Sports on 08/26/2019