Written by Raptors Broadcaster Hunter Shumake
The Ridgefield Raptors will be far from home as they travel to the Canadian Providence of Alberta to take on the Edmonton Riverhawks for the second time this season. In the first series between the Raptors and the Riverhawks, the Raps found success against their Canadian opposition by taking all three games against the Riverhawks.
The first series against Edmonton was the second WCL series for Ridgefield in the 2023 West Coast League season. In that series, the Raptors saw Trent Prokes create most of the offense for the Raptors with six hits.
Since the teams last saw each other at the beginning of the year, the Edmonton Riverhawks sit at an overall record of 10-26, with a second half record of 3-6. Now in the middle of July, the Riverhawks have seen the best offensive production out of Jonny McGill who holds a batting average of .351. Further, Tom Poole produces the power for the Riverhawks who leads the team in slugging at .432.
Recently, the Raptors prevailed over the Yakima Valley Pippins taking the series. The Raptors won the first and third games in that series. The Raps exploded with offense in game one against the Pippins; the Raptors were able to push across 12 runs to claim the victory. In game three, there was solid pitching from the Ridgeϐield starter, Brock Gillis. Gillis picked up the win as he went five innings, only allowing one run while striking out seven. The game was finished by Camden Oram who picked up the save, while going 3 innings and only giving up a single hit.
Moving into the second half of July, the Raptors remain one of the strongest teams in the WCL. The dominance was highlighted in the middle of June when the Raps had an eleven game winning streak—the longest in franchise history. June 14th marked the beginning of the eleven game run and since that date, the Raptors are 22-6 in the WCL. The overall record for Ridgeϐield is 26-12.
The Raptors will arrive in Edmonton on Tuesday and the first pitch from RE/MAX field is scheduled for July 18th at 7:05 MDT PM. For more information visit ridgefieldraptors.com. #GoRaps