PORTLAND — A crack heard from Hunter Katschke’s bat left little doubt his baseball was gone.
The sharp sound of Katschke’s three-run home run gave way to quiet murmurs from a sellout Walker Stadium crowd and scattered applause in the visiting Ridgefield Raptors’ dugout.
On the heels of Justin Stransky’s two-run blast one inning prior, the Raptors sprinted to a five-run lead through three innings and held firm to secure a 5-2 win Thursday, their 10th straight in the West Coast League to open the second half of the season.
“That’s honestly probably the best feeling in baseball,” Katschke said. “Hitting home runs on the road, silencing the crowd definitely brings a little chills to the system. Honestly, I had a rough game last game and a rough first at-bat, so I was just excited to get the barrel on the baseball and continue the hot streak.”
Indeed, the Raptors (20-16) are the hottest team in the league during its recent win streak, a stretch that includes series sweeps over the Cowlitz Black Bears, Walla Walla Sweets and Springfield Drifters.
In Thursday’s make-up game from a rained out date in early June, the Raptors faced an equally scorching Pickles (26-10) squad that had won five straight and sat just a half game in the second-half standings behind the clubhouse leader.
If that wasn’t motivation enough, Raptors players took notice before the game when the Pickles announced on social media they sold out of tickets for the game, coinciding with the team’s 10 Cent Beer Night promotion, a nod to the infamous 1974 MLB event between the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers.
“We were definitely fired up,” Katschke said. “Somebody sent a picture to the group chat, we saw that it was a sold-out crowd, so that fired us up even more. And honestly, ‘Raps are hot right now. We’re just playing hard-nosed baseball, getting timely hits and our pitching has been shoving, so it feels really good.”
Ridgefield has won games in a variety of ways during the streak, with come-from-behind efforts, clutch hits to seal wins and a couple blowouts.
The Raptors’ bats came back to earth after a hot start Thursday. Then it was up to the team’s pitching staff to protect.
Left-handed starting pitcher Carson Revay earned his third win of the season by limiting Portland to just two hits through six scoreless innings with three strikeouts and three walks.
Trouble confronted the Raptors in the seventh when fellow southpaw Connor Abadie gave up an Alejandro Garza single, followed by a walk and hit batter to load the bases. Conner Stewart’s sacrifice fly allowed Garza to score Portland’s first run, but after Abadie walked another batter, the Raptors pulled the plug.
They called on right-handed pitcher Zach Todd to get out of a bases-loaded jam. Entering the game with the home crowd ready to explode, Todd relished the moment by striking out Portland’s Dalton Mashore to end the inning and pumped his fists walking back to the dugout.
Todd worked around a pair of walks in the eighth and finished the frame with another strikeout.
The lone run he allowed in the ninth, a Britton Beeson RBI single, was answered with a fly out for the final out, stranding two Pickles runners. Todd earned his team-high third save of the season with four strikeouts, two walks, and three hits allowed.
“The key in late games like that is just maintaining confidence in your pitchers and playing good defense behind them,” Katschke said. “It was a little sketchy in the seventh when they loaded the bases, but the second I saw them (Ridgefield coaches) point down to the bullpen and Zach Todd came in, it was electric. I knew he was going to get the job done. By far one of the most electric pitchers I’ve ever played for.”
The Raptors return home to Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex for a three-game series against the Victoria HarbourCats (18-18) starting Friday at 6:35 p.m.
Three moments
Bye, bye, baseball – Ridgefield took a 2-0 lead in the second inning courtesy of a Stransky two-run homer clearing the wall in left field, which came after Colby Wallace was hit by a pitch to get on base.
Reset, refocus, Revay – With the Pickles’ offense struggling, they got a pair of free baserunners in the third inning following a pair of walks from Revay, Ridgefield’s starting pitcher. Following a mound visit from Ridgefield head coach Chris Cota, Revay retired the top of Portland’s order, Mashore and Beeson, on a fly out and ground out, respectively, stranding two runners.
Todd takes charge –The Dallas Baptist right-handed pitcher was cool under pressure upon entering the game in the seventh with two outs and the bases loaded. He struck out Portland leadoff hitter Dalton Mashore, one of four strikeouts he threw in 2 1/3 innings to earn his third save of the season.
Three players
Carson Revay – Although he struggled to find the strike zone at times, Ridgefield’s starting pitcher from Fresno State delivered when it mattered most, limiting Portland to just two hits in six shutout innings with three strikeouts and three walks. Revay is now 3-1 on the season in five starts.
Hunter Katschke – The Raptors’ recent good fortunes have coincided with a hot streak for the Utah Tech product. Katschke is 13-for-31 with four doubles, one home run, seven RBI, and 11 runs scored in his last seven games.
Britton Beeson – Making his debut in the Pickles’ lineup, Beeson, who played 15 games with the Raptors during the 2023 season, was the lone bright spot in the lineup. The Hawai’i product accounted for three of Portland’s six hits, including an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
Three numbers
10 – Consecutive WCL wins for the Raptors, a streak that also includes a non-league win over the Redmond Dudes on Tuesday. The Raptors’ longest WCL win streak is 11, which was set during the 2023 season.
14 – Home runs hit by the Raptors this season, tied for fourth most in the WCL. Katschke leads the Raptors with three while Stransky, Luke Iverson, Jack Salmon and Brody Mills have each hit two homers.
13-4 – The Pickles’ home record at Walker Stadium this season before Thursday. Three of those four losses came against the league-leading Corvallis Knights.
BOXSCORE: RIDGEFIELD 5, PORTLAND 2
