A tough loss for the Abilene Flying Bison (32-13) on Saturday night as the Sherman Shadowcats (16-27) snap the Bison win streak in a 5-4 victory. The Bison had the hits they needed throughout the night but could never hold onto the lead as they fell just short in game three of the series.
The Bison took the first two games of the series with Sherman, taking down the Shadowcats 8-2 in game one and 6-2 in game two. The game two victory gave the Bison their 10th victory of the year against the Shadowcats. The Bison entered Saturday night’s game riding a seven-game win streak, matching Abilene’s season high.
Brayden Marx took the mound for the Bison in game three and Tate Thompson got the start for Sherman. The Shadowcats opened up the game by getting a runner on the bags in the first and second, but the Bison would leave them stranded and take advantage in the bottom of the second.
Josh Overbeek started the bottom of the inning by smashing a deep double into left field and advance to third on the Sherman throw. In the next at-bat, Drew Detlefesen would need only one pitch to knock a ball over the second baseman’s head and bring home Overbeek for the first run of the ballgame.
Sherman responded quickly, evening the game up in the third before the first out would be recorded. The Shadowcats would plate one more in the inning off a Bison error to take a 2-1 lead.
Gianni Horvat would lead off the bottom of the third with an infield single but an unfortunate double play and looking strikeout would end the inning swiftly for the Bison.
In the bottom of the fourth, Will Magids and Tyler Garritano recorded back-to-back singles to lead things off and a walk to Tysaac Noland would load the bases up for the Bison. A wild
pitch into the backstop would allow Magids to head home and even up the game at two runs each. However, that would be all the Bison get as both Garritano and Noland would be left
stranded to end the inning.
It wouldn’t take long for the Shadowcats to grab the lead right back as the fourth Bison error of the game would allow a run to come home for Sherman and for the visitors to retake a one-run
lead.
The Bison would go three-up three-down in the bottom of the inning, but Connor Romine would head back onto the mound for the sixth and make quick work of the Shadowcats, striking out the side.
Garritano grabbed his second hit of the night in the seventh and after a Noland base-on-balls and a Horvat infield hit, Jack Cue would be up to the plate with zero outs. Cue would wear an
RBI HBP to tie the game up at 3-3. In the next AB, Junior Maldonado would ground one into a double play, but the ball in play allowed Noland to come home and put the Bison up a run. A hard-hit grounder from Overbeek nearly reached the outfield but a terrific play from the Sherman second baseman would cut the inning short for the Bison.
The Shadowcats would put two in scoring position in the eighth and a little blooper into left field brought both runners home and Sherman would retake the lead. The Bison left two stranded in scoring position to close out the top part of the inning with minimal damage.
The Bison would go to the bottom of the ninth with one last chance to extend the win streak with the top of the order up to bat. Jack Cue would get on the bags as the tying run, but he’d be left on to end the game as the Bison fell 5-4.
The team finished with nine hits and an unfortunate four errors while the Shadowcats’ five runs came on only five hits. Garritano had a three-hit night to go along with a run scored. Horvat recorded two hits and Cue and Detlefsen were responsible for the two Bison RBI, each taking one. Romine had a solid outing, throwing for 3.0 IP and allowed only one hit to go along with six
strikeouts.
The loss snaps the Bison win streak at seven games, which remains the season high for the team on the year.
Despite the loss, the Bison still have a chance to secure a series victory in the finale with the Shadowcats on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. at Walt Driggers Field. The Bison will look to end the home series on a high note before hitting the road to Fort Smith for a two-game set with the Marshals on Wednesday and Thursday.