Written by Raptors Broadcaster Patrick McColl
With the Columbia River Cup trophy sitting at home, the Ridgefield Raptors are back on the road this week. On Tuesday, the Raptors will travel to play the Yakima Valley Pippins in a three-game series at Yakima County Stadium.
Ridgefield is 15-4 in the second half and sits just a half game ahead of the Portland Pickles for first place in the South Division of the West Coast League (WCL). In their recent series, the ‘Raps took down the Black Bears two times in three games and last played the Pippins in early June. The Raptors lost games two and three in the series, but pitchers Dylan Stewart, Curtis Hebert and Mac Elkse threw a no-hitter against the Pippins on June 11.
Against Cowlitz, Ridgefield played its two newest outfielders, Ryan and Jovan Camacho. The brothers enter the roster from West Texas A&M and played with the Raptors in 2023. Both Camacho brothers transferred out of the College of the Canyons, the same school where Raptors head coach Chris Cota teaches baseball.
Yakima Valley (17-28) has lost four games in a row and will try to turn things around after the Bend Elks swept the team at Yakima County Stadium. The Pippins are just 5-13 in the second half of the season.
Offensively, Yakima’s Preston Allen leads the team in hits (45) and doubles (10). The Chaffey College infielder has played in a team high 41 games. On the mound, Hawaii Hilo’s Ethan Salscheider leads the pitching staff with nine starts. Georgia Gwinnett’s Carson Judd has struck out 29 hitters and walked only nine in six appearances and five starts. Judd’s 1.57 ERA is the third best ERA out of all Pippins pitchers.
All games in the series will begin at 6:35 p.m. in Yakima. After playing the Pippins, the Raptors will start a series on August 2 against the Springfield Drifters at home.
Tickets to the upcoming home series against Springfield at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex (RORC) are available on ridgefieldraptors.com. The live stream to listen to the games against Yakima will be available on ridgefieldraptors.com/stream. #GoRaps