RIDGEFIELD — A four-game win streak, currently the longest in the West Coast League, has the Ridgefield Raptors gaining steam ahead of a six-game road trip.
The streak began Wednesday, June 14, one day after the Portland Pickles took advantage of multiple Raptors mistakes in an 11-1 win.
The Raptors responded with two wins in Portland to take the three-game road series, then returned to Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex for two thrilling, come-from-behind wins against the Cowlitz Black Bears. Sunday’s series finale was rained out.
Ridgefield (8-6) currently sits in the upper half of the WCL South Division standings, tied for third place with the Corvallis Knights (8-6). The Springfield Drifters (8-4) and Portland (7-5) currently sit in first and second place, respectively.
As Ridgefield embarks on a six-game trip with stops in Yakima and Bend, this marks the debut of a weekly notebook to recap the Raptors’ previous week while looking ahead to the upcoming slate of games.
Recent additions shine in Ridgefield’s lineup
Of the nine new players who joined the Ridgefield Raptors in the past week, a few made immediate contributions to the Raptors’ four-game win streak.
Quincy Scott (Palomar College) was one of them.
Just a matter of hours after flying up from Southern California Thursday morning to join the Raptors in Portland, Scott got the start at center field and came up with one of the biggest defensive plays of the game in their 5-3 win.
Portland was in the midst of a three-run rally, cutting into Ridgefield’s 4-0 lead in the fourth inning when Portland’s Jackson Waller hit a fly ball to shallow center that Scott dove and caught for the third out, stranding the tying run to end the inning. Scott also went 2-for-5 with two RBI in his Ridgefield debut.
“A lot of us, I think at this stage, we learn how to deal with our emotions better than a lot of other young players would,” Scott said. “We just kept our composure, we knew the game wasn’t over just because they scored three runs.”
The following night, Ridgefield won a rollercoaster series opener, 7-6, over Cowlitz thanks to a walk-off, two-run base hit from Jackson Nicklaus (Oklahoma).
The infielder went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, making a great first impression in his first game played at the RORC. Though the vast majority of Ridgefield players hail from the west coast, Nicklaus came to Ridgefield by way of Overland Park, Kansas and just finished with sophomore season with the Sooners.
“It’s fun to come through for these guys,” Nicklaus said. “It’s a great group of guys. I’m not from the west coast and all these kids are from around here. It’s a new environment. I love it out here. I started out a little slow in the first three games (but) it’s part of baseball. Getting that (walk-off) hit right there felt good.”
Ridgefield came back from a two-run deficit in Saturday’s 8-5 win over the Black Bears, which included three home runs from the Raptors (two from Britton Beeson and one from Nick Seamons, making his second start of the summer).
Players to watch
Ridgefield has a bit of a logjam at catcher with five players currently on the roster, though Justin Stransky is making a strong case for more playing time.
He had a season-high three hits Saturday, including a pair of game-tying, RBI doubles, and also threw out a Black Bears runner trying to tag back to first base for the third out, helping the Raptors out of a bases-loaded jam.
Stransky, who helped Lower Columbia College capture the Northwest Athletic Conference baseball championship this spring, recently signed with Fresno State to continue his college career.
On the mound for the Raptors, right-handed pitcher Nate Wenzel had the strongest start of the week in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Pickles, which marked the beginning of the win streak.
Wenzel (Allan Hancock College) pitched six innings with one run allowed, four strikeouts and no walks. Through 13 innings, he has an ERA of 1.38 with seven strikeouts to one walk.
“It’s always satisfying to win no matter how it’s done, whether it’s through pitching or hitting,” Wenzel said Wednesday. “We’ve got great hitters so that’s going to come around. And there were guys that came in after me who did their job.”
Stat spotlight
Beeson hit two home runs in Saturday’s 8-5 win over Cowlitz, giving him a team-high three for the season. Beeson is one of four West Coast League players with at least three homers on the season. Wenatchee’s Easton Amundson currently leads the WCL with five through 14 games.
Currently batting just .162, Beeson went without a hit in three starts earlier in the week against Portland, but Saturday brought out his best.
“It was an evolution of the hard work I was putting in,” Beeson said following the game. “Even though I was struggling for a little bit, I just kept working. I stayed persistent with it and I trusted my abilities.”
In their own words
“I think it’s just a matter of us getting comfortable together. At the beginning, we were just a bunch of random guys that were good at their schools … I think the road trip (last week to Walla Walla) really helped because we all got to stay at one hotel and become friends. Right when we came back, we started winning, and I think it’s because we’re all comfortable with each other.” — Britton Beeson, describing the Raptors’ cohesion after their fourth win in a row Saturday.
The week ahead
Ridgefield’s road trip begins Tuesday with a three-game series against the Yakima Valley Pippins. Yakima Valley and Ridgefield earned the two South Division wild card spots for last season’s WCL playoffs. Both teams saw their seasons end at the hands of Corvallis, the eventual WCL champion.
Yakima Valley (6-9) has not won a series since it took two of three against Cowlitz June 2-4. The Pippins have one of the top WCL pitchers in 6-foot-2 lefty Jackson Betancourt, who has a 1.08 ERA in 16.2 innings with 11 strikeouts and seven hits allowed.
Following the three-game series in Yakima, Ridgefield will head south on Highway 97 to face the Bend Elks in a Friday-Sunday series.
Bend (5-7) is currently two games back of Ridgefield and Corvallis for fifth place in the South Division standings.
