Pickles Sweep Divisional Round!
Game 1: Late runs propel Pickles to 1-0 series lead
The Portland Pickles downed the Marion Berries at their home field on Friday, August 8, by a score of 4-3 in a match that saw 11 hits between the two teams, prompting the mound battle.
“We competed in a hostile environment,” Manager Mark Magdaleno said. “Its not that easy to win a game on the road, and it is even more difficult to win a playoff game on the road.”
In a game that hosted just shy of two thousand fans, Chemekata Community College was rowdy and filled with fans of all ages.
Dylan Smith got handed the ball to start the game, and went five innings of one run ball. He struck out four, and gave up four hits in the pitchers duel with Berries starter Grayson Bonanno, who also went five innings, giving up two runs, one unearned, and only striking out one Pickle batter.
Josh Schleichardt had one of the Pickles five hits, yet it carried more weight than the rest. Schleichardt mashed a cutter on a 1-1 count that fully cleared the stadium. On top of that, Schleichardt also recorded an RBI earlier in the game, finishing the game with two RBI’s and one hit, an absolute moonshot.
“I knew it was going to be offspeed heavy, threw me a fastball, fouled that one off and then came with a cutter that had really good bite on it, and our thought process the whole time we have been talking to hitters is see this stuff up,” Schleichardt said. “Threw me another one, ran right into my bat.”
The game turned around when Jack Meek, a southpaw for the Berries, was taken out of the game. He had recorded four outs on the night, all by the K, and made the Pickle batters look foolish. Meek was then taken out for Matthew Kosderka, who made it out of the seventh, but surrendered runs in both the eighth and ninth, receiving the loss.
Carter Speights received the save, as he marched in from left field in the one run game. He struggled to find the zone at times though, as he gave up two free passes before closing the door on the Berries by striking out former Portland Pickle Cody Kashimoto.
With the Pickles being the one seed, and owning the overall best record in the WCL, the rest of their playoff games will be played at Charles B. Walker Stadium, giving the pickles a tremendous advantage, boasting an incredible 25-3 record on their home turf.
Game 2: Pickles blend Berries in 12-0 rout; advance to next round
Four walks in the first six batters was why Luis Castillo was sitting fastball, and the fastball he got.
Castillo turned on the first pitch, crushing a 340 foot grand slam in the first inning to blow the game open 5-0 in the first, which later blossomed to seven first inning runs in the Portland Pickles 12-0 elimination of the Marion Berries.
“He was walking a lot of guys, so he was probably trying to get back to the zone, and so I was just going there pretty aggressively,” Castillo said.
The Pickles used the help from 4 innings of shutout ball from starter Finn Chapman, who tossed 79 pitches, allowing three free passes on the night.
While the Pickles pitching staff allowed five walks total , the Pickles batters drew 12, with many being full counts and long at-bats.
“It’s funny if you look at our record, our stats, we have more walks and hit by pitches than we do strikeouts,” Head Coach Jim Hoppel said. “So we go up there and we don’t swing at bad pitches, and if they aren’t going to throw a lot of strikes, then we are going to get on base.”
The difference wasn’t really even close. The pickles have drawn 433 free passes in the regular season, and struck out only 351 times. Compare this to Corvallis, who drew 341 free passes, yet struck out 382 times.
With just shy of 4,000 fans packed into Charles B. Walker Stadium, the Pickles strutted their way with ease into the WCL South Semifinals, where they will face the winner of Bend and Corvallis, but they aren’t thinking of letting up anytime soon.
“Not letting foot off the gas no matter who the opponent is,” Castillo responded on the uncertainty of their next foe. “Just going out with the same approach every single time, just go out there and beat them. They have to come here to Walker Stadium, the best fans in the world, so they have to play against us and the fans.”
The Pickles got a lot of offense from nine spot Grafton Stroup, where he went 3-5 with an RBI on the night. On top of Stroup, leadoff batter Tanner Griffith went 2-3 and drew two of the team's 12 walks. Tony Otis and Bryson Glassco added to this total, drawing three walks apiece on the night.
The historic end to the Berries inaugural season didn’t come without their flowers. They boasted the best record for an expansion team since the Yakima Valley Pippins in 2014, and the third best record for an expansion team in WCL history. With the loss though, the streak continues of no expansion team winning a playoff game in their inaugural season in WCL history, yet the playoffs recently expanded to eight teams in 2022.
The Pickles will face off against the Corvallis Nights on Tuesday, August 12 at 7:15 back at Charles B. Walker Stadium for a spot in the West Coast League Championship