Written by Raptors Broadcaster Hunter Shumake
The Ridgefield Raptors have made it to their final regular season series of the 2023 West Coast League Season. In the final series, the Raps will play the Corvallis Knights. The Corvallis Knights will serve as the bookends to the Raptors’ season. The Raps faced the Knights on June 2nd-4th to begin their 2023 campaign and will play them in their final series on August 4th-6th. The first time that these two teams faced off, Corvallis swept the series.
In the first series against the Knights, Jake Tsukada led the way for the Ridgefield Raptors. Tsukada had four hits to go along with five walks. The effort by Tsukada was good for a series on base percentage of .643.
Looking forward to the rest of the season, the Raptors have clinched their berth into the playoffs by winning the First Half Championship. The playoffs will be broken down into this format:
Divisional Series—3 Games
Divisional Championship—1 Game
WCL Championship—1 Game
After the final out on August 6th against the Knights, the Raps will have Monday, August 7th as a rest day. Tuesday, August 8th the Raptors will be on the road for game one of a best of three Divisional Series. The Raps will be back at home on August 9th for the first post season game at the RORC, game two of the Divisional Series. Ridgefield will also host game three on August 10th—if needed. As it stands now, the Raptors would be playing the Portland Pickles in the Divisional Series; however, that is subject to change in the final four games of the regular season.
Since the Raptors last saw the Corvallis Knights, the Knights currently sit at an overall record of 36-14, a 4 game advantage over Ridgefield. The second half record for Corvallis is 19-4, the best in the southern division. Corvallis currently has a 1.5 game lead over the Cowlitz Black Bears in an attempt to claim the Second Half Championship. This series between the Raptors and the Knights will have implications in determining who has home field advantage for the Divisional Championship (which is determined by overall winning percentage) and who wins the Second Half Championship.
The final series of the regular season against the Corvallis Knights will begin on August 4th with the first pitch at Goss Stadium scheduled for 6:35 PM PDT. For more information and tickets, please visit ridgefieldraptors.com. #GoRaps