Power Surge Lifts Pippins Over Ridgefield

RIDGEFIELD, Washington — Zach Blaszak took the game’s first pitch out of the park, and the Yakima Valley Pippins used a 16-hit power surge to beat Ridgefield 9-2 on Saturday.

The victory evened the series between the two squads at one game each. The deciding game begins at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

Blaszak’s second homer of the year set the tone early. The Pippins added four more in the second with three straight hits to start the inning before Spencer Shipman started the scoring with an RBI double. With two outs, Tommy Eisenstat lifted a three-run homer to give YV a 5-0 lead.

Making his first start of the season, Payton Graham struck out five and walked four in four innings. He surrendered two runs to the Raptors in the second, but he, Jackson Betancourt and Julian Taudin-Chabot blanked Ridgefield over the final seven innings.

Betancourt, who picked up the win, kept the Raptors guessing over his 3.2 innings of work. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out six batters.

The Pippins added four insurance runs in the ninth on RBI singles by Hank Dunn, Eisenstat and Maxim Fullerton and a fielder’s choice groundout by Konner Kincade.

Dunn finished 3-for-4 and Eisenstat 3-for-5, and Blaszak and Shipman each went 2-for-4.

By Logan Peter

July 16, 2023