The FW Rebels were only supposed to play one game Wednesday night, a rain-out makeup from the previous week vs the Ft Worth Sharks.  Instead, they were able to get another game in vs the North Texas RailRiders and they came out on top in both.  First was a sluggish 9-6 win over the Ft Worth Sharks followed by a decisive 11-5 victory over the RailRiders.  Here are the recaps:

FW REBELS 9      FT WORTH SHARKS 6

The Rebels bats came out slowly Wednesday vs the Sharks but they used a 7-run 5th inning to pull away with a 9-6 victory.  Evan Smith started on the mound for the Rebelsand pitched around a single and three walks to throw up to scoreless innings.  In the first, Smith struckout the 4 & 5 hole hitters with runners in scoring position to escape.  Then, with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 2nd inning, a ball was grounded back to Smith who threw to Karson Symonds at 1st who ran across the diamond to tag out the runner who was on 2nd who went to 3rd, not knowing the runner on 3rd was still there.  

At the plate, with one out in the first Jack Dalton singled and stole second.  He scored on a 2-out RBI single from Jackson Jordan to make it 1-0.  The score stayed that way until the top of the 3rd.  Christopher Calabrese led off with a walk, and then scored on a 2-out RBI double by Jace Franke. 

The Sharks battled back to score three runs in the 4th to take a 3-2 lead.  Then the Rebel bats came to life.  In the top of the 5th, with one out, Calabrese, Will Adams, and Evan Swindell all walked to fill the bases.  The Sharks made a pitching change and the first pitch the new hurler threw plunked Jace Franke in the back to make it 3-3.  Jack Dalton followed with a 2-run single to make it 5-3.  Quentin Enos doubled in Franke to make it 6-3.  After Jackson Jordan was hit by a pitch, Drew Horstman laced a 2-run single to center to make it 8-3.  Karson Symonds capped off the scoring with an RBI double to make it 9-3.

Jackson Jordan pitched three innings in relief to earn the Win while Drew Horstman closed things out in the 6th.

FW REBELS 11    NORTH TEXAS RAILRIDERS 5

Drew Horstman stayed loose and started on the hill in the nightcap.  He tossed a dominating 2 innings, not allowing a hit and striking out 4.  The Rebel bats woke up a little earlier in this game.  Jace Franke led off with a booming double off of the left field wall and came around to score on a Jackson Jordan sacrifice fly.

The Rebels basically put the game away in the 2nd inning with a 7-run explosion.  They were aided by 5 walks and a hit batter.  Jon Doko was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Evan Smith & Christopher Calabrese both walked.  Will Adams hit an RBI groundout to SS to make it 2-0.  Evan Swindell walked to load the bases.  Jace Franke singled in Smith to make it 3-0.  Calabrese scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.  Then Jack Dalton walked to fill the bases, followed by Jackson Jordan who walked bringing in Swindell to score.  Drew Horstman doubled in Franke & Dalton to make it 7-0.  Karson Symonds finished up the inning by reaching on an error to score Jordan. 

Christopher Calabrese made his season pitching debut and threw strikes and battled the entire inning.

In the top of the 4th, the Rebels ran into the RailRiders pitcher who shut them down in the RYA championship game in the Fall of 2018.  They made sure that performance was not repeated.  Evan Swindell had an 8-pitch at bat to lead off the inning and walked.  Jace Franke followed with a single to center.  Jack Dalton then crushed a line drive triple down the right field line to make it 10-5.  Jackson Jordan singled in Dalton and then Drew Horstman doubled for the 3rd time on the night.  That's when the lightning came and the game was called.  Horstman was the winning pitcher.