By Cade Haak
TEXARKANA, Texas (July 24, 2024) – The Rhinos jumped ahead early in game two, and despite some fight from Abilene, they were able to hold on to get the win.
The Rhinos scored one run in each of the first two innings. In the first, it was Rylan Evans who scored on an RBI single into left field from Neil Jansen. In the second inning, Evans earned himself an RBI when he drove in KJ Battles on a single into right.
The Flying Bison tied the game up with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth, but Texarkana didn’t let the tie stand for long as they scored four runs in the home half of the same inning. Battles and Sebastian Huerta were both driven in by Antonio Sabala for the first two runs. Neil Jansen then walked with the bases loaded to bring home AIden Otano. And the fourth run of the inning for the Rhinos scored when a ground ball that gave the pitcher trouble off the bat of Luke Smith scored Antonio Sabala.
In the fifth inning, Abilene quickly got back into the game when they scored four runs on four hits. Despite Abilene’s ability to tie the game twice, the Rhinos continued to have the momentum as they took the lead again in the sixth, and held onto it for the rest of the night.
The Rhinos took the lead when Neil Jansen, who singled to start the inning, scored on a wild pitch. This wild pitch also allowed Luke Smith, who got on base by drawing a walk, to move to third base. Shortly after, Smith, a new addition to the team and a Texarkana native, scored his first run of the season in front of his hometown crowd.
In the seventh, Mason Sellers hit a double that drove in Antonio Sabala for the Rhinos ninth run, then in the eighth inning, KJ Battles scored the Rhinos last run of the game on a wild pitch.
Brandon Cardenas came in to relieve Kyle Poissoit in the fourth inning, and pitched 5.0 innings en route to his league leading 7th win of the year to push his record to 7-3.
