The Arkansas Travelers had their season end in disappointing fashion with a 9-1 loss to the Amarillo Sod Poodles in the third and final game of the Texas League Championship Series on Wednesday night at Hodgetown Stadium in Amarillo, Texas.
Following a dramatic 6-5 win on Tuesday that forced the decisive final game, the Travelers ran out of gas as the Sod Poodles dominated the game from start to finish.
Amarillo's Camden Duzenack got the rout started early, smashing a grand slam to right field off Arkansas pitcher Ben Onyshko in the bottom of the second inning to make the score 4-0. A sacrifice fly from A.J. Vukovich and an RBI single from Seth Beers pushed the Sod Poodles' lead to 6-0 after two innings.
Amarillo continued to build on its momentum in the fifth, scoring three more runs to extend the lead to 9-0. Deyvison De Los Santos hit an RBI single that scored Vukovich for the first run of the inning. Kristian Robinson followed that up with a two-run homer to put the Sod Poodles firmly in the driver's seat through five innings.
The Travelers managed to score one run in the eighth when Leo Rivas, the hero from Tuesday night who hit the go-ahead home run to secure the Game 2 victory, hit a line drive double to right that scored Jake Anchia. That would be the final run of the game as the Travelers went quietly.
Onyshko suffered the loss after coming into the game early in relief of starting pitcher Jake Haberer with two outs in the first inning. Onyshko was able to get out of the jam in the first with a strikeout, but got shelled in the second inning as he gave up the grand slam to Duzenack and was assessed six earned runs.
Emailin Montilla was credited with the win for the Sod Poodles, as both teams unloaded their bullpens in the last game of the season.
Amarillo improved its all-time record in postseason elimination games to 8-0. It is the fourth championship in the history of the franchise and the first since 2019. The last time the Travelers won a Texas League championship was in 2008.
TEXAS LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
All times Central
SEMIFINAL
(Best-of-3)
Arkansas 2, Springfield 1
Tuesday, Sept. 19: Arkansas 3, Springfield 1
Thursday, Sept. 5: Springfield 6, Arkansas 4
Friday, Sept. 22: Arkansas 14, Springfield 1
Amarillo 2, San Antonio 1
Tuesday, Sept. 19: San Antonio 12, Amarillo 11
Thursday, Sept. 21: Amarillo 7, San Antonio 4
Friday, Sept. 22: Amarillo 6, San Antonio 3
CHAMPIONSHIP
(Best-of-3)
Amarillo vs. Arkansas
Sunday’s game Amarillo 3, Arkansas 2
Tuesday’s game Arkansas 6, Amarillo 5
Wednesday’s game Amarillo 9, Arkansas 1
Amarillo wins series 2-1