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.
