Shadowcats Fall 17-12 to San Antonio a Night After Shutting Out the River Monsters

The San Antonio River Monsters beat the Sherman Shadowcats 17-12 on Friday, July 17, in a Texas Collegiate League game the league's recap described as one of the higher-scoring contests of its season. The loss kept the first-year Sherman club from putting together consecutive wins one night after it shut out the same opponent.

Sherman won the first meeting 3-0 on Thursday, according to the league's account of the July 16 games, and a second victory in as many nights would have given the club a two-game streak. A pitching staff that had not allowed a run the previous evening gave up 17 on Friday. Sherman scored 12 times and still finished five short, and the clubs together produced 29 runs after combining for three in the opener.

The team's pregame broadcast, posted to the Shadowcats' Facebook page, billed the night as Sherman's second in a row against the River Monsters and said the club had just won for the first time since dropping eight straight games. By that account, Thursday's shutout was the victory that stopped the skid. The league's recaps reported the scores of both meetings without mentioning a streak; the eight-game figure comes from the team's own broadcast.

Across the two nights the series produced 32 runs, 29 of them on Friday, and within a day it went from a three-run Sherman shutout to a five-run San Antonio win. The league's July 17 recap, the source for the final score, grouped the game with the higher-scoring contests the TCL has staged in 2026.

The Shadowcats are one of two clubs playing a first season in the TCL, a collegiate summer league. The league added Sherman and Abilene for 2026, according to the announcement welcoming the two teams, an expansion that brought its membership to eight franchises. Abilene is the only other franchise in a debut summer.

San Antonio's club is also settling into a new market. According to the River Monsters' announcement of the move, the franchise relocated to San Antonio for 2026 after four seasons in Seguin, years that included a Texas Collegiate League championship. Friday's game matched an expansion team against a relocated franchise, each playing in a new home city.

When Sherman plays at home, the club uses Fairview Park Veteran's Field, a ballpark inside the City of Sherman's parks system. The city's facility listing says the diamond served Sherman Bearcat baseball before the Shadowcats made it their home field.