The Ridgefield Raptors begin the second half of West Coast League play with a six-game road trip to Washington’s wine country. The Raptors will take on the Walla Walla Sweets this weekend at Borleske Stadium.
The Sweets finished the first half 16-13, four games behind the Raptors in second place.
Ridgefield clinched the WCL South first-half title, punching their ticket to the franchise’s fifth postseason appearance. The Raptors went 20-7, winning seven of nine series while posting an 11-4 record at home and a 9-3 mark on the road.
The Raptors’ recipe for success was an electric offense anchored by consistent starting pitching. Ridgefield led the WCL in several offensive categories and ranked near the top in most others. The Raptors led the league in home runs (26), RBIs (178) and slugging percentage (.416), while ranking second in doubles (53) and on-base percentage (.397).
Zach Wadas (Loyola Marymount) and JT Summers (Oregon) have led the way. Wadas is second in the WCL with six home runs and leads the team with a .367 batting average and 33 hits. Summers leads the WCL with 30 RBIs to go along with a team-high 10 doubles.
Ken Tomitaka has also been a standout infielder. The UC San Diego commit has started 20 games while seeing time at shortstop, second base and third base. His 30 hits rank third on the team behind Wadas and Summers. Tomitaka has excelled at getting on base, posting a .408 on-base percentage and setting the table for the middle of the lineup.
Two weeks ago, Walla Walla came to Ridgefield two games behind the Raptors in the WCL South with nine games remaining in the first half. The Raptors swept the Sweets 6-5, 3-2 and 6-4 to strengthen their hold on first place.
In the opener, the Raptors trailed 4-1 through 5 1/2 innings before center fielder Ben Strutt ripped a two-out, two-run double to cut the deficit to 4-3. Tomitaka followed with an RBI single to tie the game.
The Sweets regained a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth on Gage Reeser’s RBI single with runners on first and second.
The Raptors answered in the bottom of the ninth, putting runners on first and second to begin the inning after a single and a hit-by-pitch. Jackson Weber then dropped a flare just inside the right-field line to score Summers and tie the game.
Isaiah Hearn was intentionally walked to load the bases, setting up a matchup with Braden Watson (Evansville). Watson answered by lining a walk-off single off the glove of a diving Sweets second baseman to give Ridgefield a 6-5 victory.
The Raptors edged the Sweets in Games 2 and 3 thanks to strong starting pitching from Parker Heintz (Fresno State) and Justin Brown.
Fans can visit ridgefieldraptors.com to purchase tickets for the upcoming home series against the Portland Pickles, July 10-12, at the RORC. Livestreams of all games are available at ridgefieldraptors.com/stream.