Winter Caravan

Staff Reports

LONGVIEW — The World Series champion Texas Rangers’ 2024 Kroger Winter Caravan will make a stop in Longview on Friday.

Right-handed pitcher Josh Sborz, who was on the mound for the final out of the Rangers’ World Series-clinching win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, and radio play-by-play announcer Matt Hicks are scheduled to participate in the Caravan stop.

The even it set for 3:30-5 p.m. at Kroger (701 W. Marshall) in Longview.

Sborz recorded the final outs of the 2023 World Series, striking out Ketel Marte striking out to conclude the season and his first save and the Rangers’ first World Series championship in franchise history, ending a 63-year drought.

Sborz had a 0.75 earned run average, one save and 13 strikeouts across 10 relief outings during the Rangers’ historical run through the MLB postseason.

Acquired by Texas from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for minor league pitcher Jhan Zambrano, Sborz has totaled an 11-11 record, a 5.08 ERA and 176 strikeouts in five seasons at the MLB level. He had a career-high six wins in 44 appearances in 2023, and his 11.35 strikeouts per nine innings ranked 11th among American League relief leaders with a minimum of 50 innings pitched in relief.

Hicks is entering his 12th full season in the Texas Rangers radio booth after joining the broadcasts in June 2012.

He came to the Rangers from the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Houston Astros Texas affiliate.

Hicks has 35 years of professional baseball play-by-play experience, making stops with Frederick of the Carolina League from 1989-94 and El Paso of the Texas League from 1995-2004 before becoming the inaugural employee at Corpus Christi.

He is a former winner of the Radio Broadcaster of the Year Award in El Paso, and in 2016 was inducted into the El Paso Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Rangers are scheduled to open their spring training schedule in Surprise, Arizona on Friday, Feb. 23 against the Kansas City Royals.