By Cade Haak
SHERMAN, Texas (July 4, 2024) – The Shadowcats were able to get in front of the Texarkana Rhinos early in front of their home crowd Thursday night, but the visiting Rhinos offense was able to produce enough offense to walk away with the Independence Day win.
Sherman was the first to score in the game, as they put one run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning. The one run was enough to put the lead in the hands of the Shadowcats until the top of the fourth inning, when the Rhinos finally retaliated with a run of their own. Alex DeLeon was the tying run for the Rhinos after he walked to get on base and then scored on a long sacrifice fly into center field off the bat of Jackson Glymph.
In the top of the fifth, Texarkana then added two more runs to secure their first lead of the game. For the first run of the inning, Ian Guanzon was scored when the team’s RBI leader, Neil Jansen, hit a ball back up the middle of the field into center to allow the run to score. Rylan Evans was also able to reach third base due to the single by Jansen, and then Evans was driven in to score when Alex DeLeon stepped up and hit a single into left field in the next at bat.
Innings six and seven both saw very little action from both teams’ offenses, but the Rhinos were able to add to their lead in the top of the eighth. Sherman was able to get two quick outs in the top of the eighth, but then Ian Guanzon singled and stole second to put himself in scoring position, and Gabriel Natividad then took advantage of this development by singling into left field and scoring Guanzon. The Shadowcats were then able to cut the Rhinos lead back down to one after Easton Ford sent a two-RBI double into left field.
With their lead sitting at just one run after the bottom of the eighth, the Rhinos once again put together a good offensive showing to start the final inning of the night. Alex DeLeon started the final frame by hitting a single, which was promptly followed up by back-to-back triples from his next two teammates at the plate. The first triple was from Sloane Laird and was able to score DeLeon, while the second triple was from Jackson Glymph and scored Laird. Both triples came in a similar manner, as they both were hit past the centerfielder to allow themselves to get around the bases to third.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Shadowcats put forth one final effort to come back, but it was to no avail as they were only able to score a single run and ultimately lost 6-4.
This win for the Rhinos was enough to advance Dalton Graham to 1-0 on the season after Graham left the game having pitched 6.2 innings and only allowed one run on four hits during his time on the mound. The loss for the Shadowcats goes to Tyler Carnes, who was able to put together a solid outing through five innings, but due to the performance of Graham for the Rhinos, he will still take the loss as his result.
