By Cade Haak
Sherman, TX (June 18th, 2024) – The Texarkana Rhinos fell in the first game of a three-game series against the Sherman Shadowcats. The Shadowcats 16-5 victory was largely driven by an assertive thirteen-run first inning.
After a scoreless top of the first inning, the Shadowcats were able to bring 13 runs across home plate against two different pitchers for the Texarkana Rhinos. Nine of these runs were scored against the Rhinos’ starting pitcher, with eight of the runs being earned, but the other four runs were all on Christian Rosales, who came in for Cardenas, who finished his appearance after only getting one out.
In the top of the second, the Rhinos were able to shrink the deficit that they faced by adding five runs of their own to the scoreboard. The first two runs came when Jackson Glymph hit a single to bring in Sebastian Huerta and when Wyatt Cunningham drove a single into left field to bring in Sota Suzuki. For the final three runs of the game for the Rhinos, both Glympha and Cunninghame were able to round the bases after Neil Jansen crushed a team-leading second home run on the season over the left field wall.
Yuto Mimura was then brought in for the Rhinos to stop the bleeding on the defensive end. After a shaky start in the bottom of the second and third innings when Mimura allowed 3 runs in total, he was able to stabilize the Rhinos to finish the night with stats of 5.0 innings pitched, three runs scored, only two of which were earned, and 2 strikeouts.
After the loud offensive boom from both teams, neither team was able to score again in innings four through seven, so due to the Mid America League run rule, the game ended after just seven innings played between the two teams. This loss puts the Rhinos record at 6-10 for the season, just one game behind the Sherman Shadowcats for fourth place.
Next Up:
Tomorrow night, these two teams square off again to finish out the two-game series. Then Thursday night at 7:05 p.m., the Rhinos will return home to protect the Zoo against the Joplin Outlaws.
