Brandon Larson hit a two-out double in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Cowlitz Black Bears earned a split of a West Coast League doubleheader with a 7-6 win over the Ridgefield Raptors on Tuesday night at Story Field in Longview.
The Raptors (29-14) won the first game 3-0 with Blake Hammond and Ross Goldschlag holding the Black Bears (23-20) to four hits.
That win clinched the Columbia River Cup — the series created last season for games between the Raptors and Black Bears — for Ridgefield for the second year in a row.
Both games of the doubleheader were scheduled for seven innings, but one more inning was needed to finish the night.
Trailing 6-0 after two innings, Ridgefield sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the third and scored six runs on two hits, a bases-loaded walk and an error to tie the nightcap.
Corey Nunez singled in Jake Tsukada following the bases-loaded walk to Jackson Nicklaus that scored Jack Salmon.
Justin Stransky then reached on an error that cleared the bases, making it a 6-5 game. Stransky scored on Evan Liebl’s single to tie it.
All of Ridgefield’s runs in the sixth scored without an out being recorded.
Both teams had chances to break the tie.
Cowlitz loaded the bases in the seventh and Hunter Holmes got the Raptors out of the jam with an inning-ending strikeout.
Ridgefield stranded Stransky at third in the top of the eighth.
Larson won it for Cowlitz in the bottom of the inning, scoring Ian Riley from second base with a two-out double. Riley had singled and went to second on an error.
The opener was a make up from June 18.
Ridgefield got out of bases-loaded jams in the third and fifth innings to preserve the shutout.
Hammond (2-2) went five innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Goldschlag earned his third save by throwing two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits.
Ridgefield faces the Black Bears two more times in Longview. Games on Wednesday and Thursday start at 6:35 p.m.
