STWF Sports| FRISCO, Texas| September 1, 2026 — The Frisco RoughRiders return to Riders Field on Tuesday night to begin their final homestand of the 2026 regular season, opening a six-game series against the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CT, with right-hander D.J. McCarty set to start for Frisco. McCarty enters the matchup at 0-2 with a 5.75 ERA. Amarillo will counter with right-hander John West, who is 0-0 with a 7.36 ERA.
Frisco comes home with momentum after closing its road series against Northwest Arkansas with a dramatic 7-6 victory Sunday afternoon. The win secured a split of the six-game set and pushed the RoughRiders to 28-29 in the second half and 67-58 overall.
Texas Rangers top prospect Sebastian Walcott was at the center of the comeback. Walcott delivered a 115 mph RBI single early in the game before crushing a two-run home run in the sixth inning to tie the score at 6-6.
Luke Hanson later executed a safety squeeze in the seventh to provide the eventual winning run, while Eric Loomis closed the door for his fourth save.
Walcott enters Tuesday on a six-game hitting streak, batting .435 during that span with three doubles, two home runs and 13 runs scored. Through 27 games this season, he owns a .303 batting average with a .937 OPS, five homers and 14 RBIs.
He is hardly the only hot hitter in Frisco’s lineup.
Outfielder Dylan Dreiling brings a 21-game hitting streak into the series opener, the longest in the Texas League this season. During the streak, Dreiling is batting .420 with eight doubles, five home runs and 19 RBIs.
His August performance was even more impressive. Dreiling hit .429 during the month, the best batting average among qualified Minor League hitters. He enters September tied for the Texas League lead with a .315 average while ranking near the top of the league in OPS, hits and total bases.
The power combination of Dreiling and Max Wagner has also placed the duo in rare franchise company. Both have reached the 20-home run mark, making them the first pair of RoughRiders teammates to accomplish the feat in the same season since Mike Olt and Chris McGuiness in 2012.
Wagner has been especially dangerous from the bottom of the order, hitting 16 home runs from the eighth and ninth spots — the most in Minor League Baseball.
Frisco’s offense remains one of Double-A’s most productive units. Through 125 games, the RoughRiders lead Double-A with 1,151 hits and a .270 team batting average while ranking second with 751 runs. They also lead the Texas League in doubles and slugging percentage.
The Rise of the Frisco RoughRiders
Pitching remains an area Frisco will look to stabilize before the postseason. RoughRiders relievers carried a heavy workload in August, throwing 134.1 innings, the most in Double-A. The bullpen averaged 5.1 innings per game during the month, a franchise high for any recorded month.
The Riders have already secured their postseason future after winning the Texas League South Division first-half championship in June. It marks Frisco’s 11th playoff appearance and its first since 2024.
Now, with Amarillo arriving for the final six games at Riders Field, the focus shifts toward sharpening the roster for playoff baseball while giving the home crowd one final regular-season look at a prospect-loaded club with championship ambitions.
