Written by Raptors Broadcaster Patrick McColl

The Ridgefield Raptors are deep into the West Coast League (WCL) season with the end of the first half coming up in early July. Before then, the Raptors will play the Portland Pickles for the first time this season in a road series at Walker Stadium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Raptors (10-13) have taken the first two games of their series against Springfield, and the squad will try to sweep the Drifters on Thursday night.

Against the Drifters, outfielder Jackson Waller hit his first home run and still leads the Raps with a .448 batting average. Noah Karliner still leads Ridgefield in doubles (seven), home runs (seven), and RBI (23) after winning the WCL’s player of the week award on Monday.

Ridgefield’s Ryan McClaskey picked up an important win on Tuesday, allowing no runs in 1.1 innings to aid a Raptors win. On Wednesday, LSU Shreveport starter Brock Lucas was given the win after a quality start in which he allowed just three runs in five innings.

Portland has the best record in the WCL (18-3) this season, and the Pickles have hardly slipped throughout the entire first half of the season. The Pickles only took their first series loss of the season this week in Walla Walla, losing Tuesday and Wednesday at Borleske Stadium.

The Pickles 2025 effort has been charged by the bat of Vanguard transfer Josh Schleichardt, who leads the league with 12 home runs and 38 RBI. As a team, Portland leads the WCL in home runs (20) and runs scored (178).

Portland pitchers have caused plenty of offensive issues. The team’s 2.19 ERA is best in the league. George Fox’s Ryder Edwards has dominated, with a 0.61 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched. Edwards has only walked one batter and has won all three of his decisions. 

Game 1 against Portland will start at 7:10 p.m. Game 2 on Saturday will also start at 7:10 p.m. and Sunday’s finale will begin at 6:15 p.m. at Walker Stadium. After the series, Ridgefield will host the Cowlitz Black Bears on Monday night.

Fans can go to ridgefieldraptors.com to purchase tickets to the upcoming home game against Cowlitz at the RORC. The live stream to listen to the games against Portland will be available on ridgefieldraptors.com/stream. #GoRaps