LAS VEGAS – Carolina Cowboys Assistant General Manager Tiffany Davis ran over to Sandro Batista during Round 1 of the PBR Challenger Series Championship yelling, ‘Does he know he has a score?’

Batista had just ridden Lady Killer for 83.5 points, and he had a re-ride option on the table.

Davis laughed, “We can’t have him getting on another bull. We have him in our lineup tomorrow night!”

The No. 4 Carolina Cowboys (15-13) take on the No. 7 Kansas City Outlaws (12-16) on Friday night during the first round of the 2022 PBR Team Series Championship (11 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network). The Cowboys leadership team was understandably nervous about having two of its starters – Batista and Boudreaux Campbell – compete at the Challenger Series Championship and risk the possibility of injury on Thursday night.  

However, head coach Jerome Davis and Tiffany knew Batista needed a confidence booster, and boy, did the 23-year-old get just that.

Batista wound up turning down his re-ride option, and the decision paid off perfectly as the Carolina Cowboy went on to ride Safety Meeting for 88 points in the championship round to win the 2022 PBR Challenger Series Championship event title.

“This helps a lot,” Tiffany said. “We know Sandro’s got it. He is just sometimes so hard on himself. This is awesome for the whole team. This is good for him, but also for the team. Jerome wants these guys to go into the playoffs with confidence, but it is also scary that they are going to get hurt on these (ABBI) Classic bulls. It’s like, what do we do?”

The team weighed the pros and cons. For example, the team elected to hold Daylon Swearingen out of the Challenger Series Championship as a precaution while letting Campbell and Batista compete so they could bust out of their respective slumps.

Batista had gone just 2-for-6 since the Cowboys signed him as a free agent off the Arizona Ridge Riders’ practice squad at the end of September.

“Jerome is a bull rider, and he went back to his mentality of what he wanted to do,” Davis said. “Daylon, for example – they talked about it, and Daylon knew we are depending on him a lot, and he had been riding good and his confidence is where it needed to be. There was not a lot of a bonus for him to come and ride for this, so it could hurt the team. With Sandro, it could help his confidence, and he was still trying to find himself.”

Batista agreed that winning the PBR Challenger Series Championship event title has certainly boosted his confidence heading into his matchup vs. Cold Chill Friday night.

“I am very happy, and it is important to arrive tomorrow confident and ready to ride,” Batista said. “We have a fantastic team, and we will be champions.”

The only other rider to go 2-for-2 was Joao Ricardo Vieira of the Texas Rattlers, who are the No. 2 seed for the PBR Team Series Championship and have a first-round bye.

Campbell, meanwhile, ended the Teams regular season 1-for-5 but will also have some momentum following his 88-point ride on High Hopes in Round 1. The 2020 PBR Rookie of the Year finished fourth overall after bucking off Bamboozle in 1.98 seconds in the championship round.

“Heck, I am a bull rider, and I am not in this game to avoid getting hurt,” Campbell said. “I am here to win money and be the best I can be. I love riding bulls, and if there is money to be won, I am entering. Momentum or no momentum, I am going after any bull the same. If I fall off, I get that buckoff out of the way, I don’t have to worry about it the rest of the week. If they do, it is a fluke deal.”

FIVE 2023 UNLEASH THE BEAST BERTHS HANDED OUT AT CHALLENGER SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP

Meanwhile, Batista also earned an automatic berth to the first four Unleash The Beast events of the 2023 season, beginning with the season opener on Nov. 26-27 in Tucson, Arizona, courtesy of his third-place finish in the Challenger Series Championship standings.

The Top-5 finishers in the standings were awarded berths to the first four Unleash The Beast events: Keyshawn Whitehorse, Swearingen, Batista, Wyatt Rogers and Rafael Jose de Brito. Seeing as Swearingen already qualifies for the UTB as the reigning World Champion, No. 6 Jesse Petri will also receive four exemptions.

“It was a very emotional rollercoaster,” Davis said. “With Sandro and Wingson (Henrique da Silva), those two young guys have World Champion potential. They just got over here and are still improving. They go to Jerome, and they study videos, and they are learning. There is no telling how good they can be. They are going to be feeding off each other. We are just seeing the beginning of them.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media