Twins sweep Acadiana for fifth straight win

Texarkana Twins pitcher Brayden Boyd came through with a rare pitching performance Saturday evening against the Acadiana Cane Cutters.

These days it is rather unusual for a pitcher to hurl a complete game as teams go to the bullpen in the late innings.

It wasn’t a masterful performance for Boyd, but the righthander allowed 11 well-scattered hits, while his teammates banged out 13 to give the Twins an 8-4 victory at George Dobson Field.

“Boyd was just a reliever last season,” Twins coach Jake Mitzner said. “But I told him I wanted him to be a starter this season. He did a real good job, and was stronger at the end even after tossing over 100 pitches.”

It was the fifth straight win for Texarkana, which improves to 8-5 on the season.

The Twins played at Brazos on Sunday evening.

The Lafayette, La., team jumped out to an early 3-1 lead with three runs on four hits in the second inning.

The Twins scored single runs in the first, second, and fourth innings to tie the sc-ore at 3-3. Jo Jo Craig had a home run in the second inning.

The Cane Cutters went on top, 4-3, after an RBI double by Cole Secrest in the top of the sixth frame.

Texarkana came right back to take the lead, 5-4, with two runs on two hits in the bottom of the sixth. Jakob Nunez and Ross Messina had a single each, and four stolen bases, an error, and a wild pitch resulted in the two runs.

The Twins kept the offense going with three more runs on three hits in the seventh.

Dylan Ditzenberger led off with a double, his second of the game, Matt McDonald reached on an error, and Coltyn Kessler drove in the first run with a single. Craig later drove in the final two runs with a single for an 8-4 advantage.

Craig paced the Twins’ 13-hit attack with the home run and two singles, Ditzenberger had the two doubles, and Gunner Halter and Messina had two singles each.

Acadiana 030 001 000 — 4 11 3 Texarkana 110 102 30x — 8 13 2

Brice Armistead, Beau Balado (5), Jacob Norman (7) and Blake Nehery. Brayden Boyd and Jakob Nunez. WP-Boyd. LP-Balado.