Twins begin homestand with win over Marshals

Home, sweet home.

After struggling during their recent road stretch, the Texarkana Twins rolled back to town and had an emphatic 8-7 series-opening victory over the Texas Marshals thanks to a late rally on Wednesday night at George Dobson Field in Spring Lake Park.

After a 30-minute delay due to bus malfunctions en route to the Twin City, the Marshals sped out to a commanding lead, but eventually ran out of gas in the later innings as they gave up five runs in the final two frames.

Behind for much of the game, the Twins bounced back in the eighth to bring home four runs to knot the score, 7-7, before walking it off in the bottom of the ninth.

The Marshals walked two of the first three batters of the final frame to put runners on the corner and Ross Messina ripped the walk-off single to right field to score second baseman Dylan Ditzenberger for the winning run.

Down 7-3 in the eighth, Coltyn Kessler, Ditzenberger, Hudson Hopkins and Messina all scored to set up the rally.

Kessler and Ditzenberger led the inning off with back-to-back singles and Hopkins juiced the bases with a walk. The next batter, Tanner Sparks, delivered an RBI-single and Messina followed up with a fielder's choice to score Hopkins.

Mississippi State product Gunner Halter, who was drafted in the 26th round of the MLB draft on Wednesday by the Cleveland Indians, finished off the scoring with an RBI.

Texarkana dug deep into its bullpen to hold off the Marshals after a five-run fourth inning. The Twins brought in five pitchers throughout the night, with Colby Atkins getting the win, and the staff combined for 11 strikeouts.

Ditzenberger led the Twins at the plate with three hits, and teammates Kensler and Halter finished with two each, including a double by the latter.