Written by Raptors Broadcaster Hunter Shumake
For the first time in franchise history, the Raptors have clinched the first half of the regular season and have an automatic berth into the 2023 West Coast League post season. The Raps needed to take one game from the Portland Pickles in the event of Corvallis losing to Kelowna. Corvallis lost and Ridgefield took care of business in game two versus the Portland Pickles winning 10-3. Of the ten runs scored by the Raptors, half of them were scored by homeruns. Corey Nunez, the UCSB Gaucho, had a two run shot in the 2nd inning to take the lead over Portland; Jack Salmon followed suit in the 3rd pushing three runs across the plate with his deep ball over right field leaving the yard. Ridgefield was relentless in creating offensive pressure against the Pickles, as they scored in innings 2-7 and put the game out of reach for Portland.
To start the month of July, Quincy Scott and Andy Allanson are the two hottest players in the lineup for Ridgefield. Both players have five hits to start the month. For Allanson, his power prowess continues as he is second in the WCL in slugging percentage at .533. He already has three extra base hits this month.
After the completion of the mid-week series versus Portland, the Raps will host the Bellingham Bells on July 7th -9th. Currently, Bellingham is locked in a brawl with Wenatchee to determine the winner of the first half of the regular season for the northern division. Regardless of what happens in the battle for the northern division ϐirst half championship, Ridgefield will face a quality Bellingham team at the RORC this weekend. The current record for Bellingham is 19-7. Notably, the Bells have one of the better pitching staffs in the WCL. Bellingham leads the league with the lowest ERA at 2.57—one of only two teams with an ERA south of 3. Additionally, the Bells are one of the best teams in the league for eliminating walks. They have only walked 89 batters this season, which is tied with Wenatchee as a league best.
Ridgefield and Bellingham will play six straight games against each other. The weekend series will be played at the RORC to finish out this week, and then the Raps will be on the road to visit the Bells in Bellingham early next week.
The ϐirst pitch between Ridgefield and Bellingham is scheduled for July 7th at 6:35 PM PDT. . For more information, visit ridgefieldraptors.com. #GoRaps