[Westheim]

2026 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (93-69)

Game 6 – Mark Roberts (13-10, 3.05 ERA) vs. Jose Diaz (17-10, 3.46 ERA)

The Coons looked for any bit of momentum. Any bit of momentum would do! Thus Terry Kopp was back in the lineup for Game 6.

OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – CF Rummelhart – C Burgess – 1B J. Elliott – RF Sagredo – 2B Ts'ai – LF Millan – P Jo. Diaz
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – LF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Jamieson – RF Kopp – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – P Roberts

Technically, Mark Roberts was still the reigning Pitcher of the Year, so what in the world could go wrong? Exactly, we were as good as in the World Series! And to make a point, Rafael Gomez homered in the first, putting the Coons up 1-0 in a packed house!

That packed house offered some 40k witnesses when Burgess and Sagredo flipped the score with two solo shots off Roberts in the top 2nd, who came up with Nunley and O'Dell on the corners and grounded out to strand them in the bottom 2nd.

I was not going to blame him for that. But I was sure going to have a word with him over the top of the third, where he walked the bases full, then surrendered three runs on sharp singles by Sagredo and Ts'ai before the inning ended finally on a sliding catch by Rafael Gomez on Omar Millan's bloop in shallow left. The Coons were now in a 5-1 hole, and I was ready to weep.

The Coons got Spencer and Harenberg on base in the bottom 3rd, but left them on. The offense couldn't exploit "Butch" Diaz in a way Roberts was readily exploited in. The former Pitcher of the Year lasted five innings, allowed five hits and five walks, and was charged with five runs, all earned, all deserved. Cookie batted for him in the bottom 5th, grounded out, and while Ramos got an odd out-of-the-way single, Spencer spanked a grounder into a double play.

The Coons could ill afford another run. Billy Brotman struck out the bottom of the Thunder lineup in the sixth, but the offense was helpless against Diaz once more. Here came the tough decision – burn Ricky Ohl now down by four, or bundle him with Delgadillo in the all-deciding Game 7? It was an easy decision, and Alvin Smith took it over from Brotman in the seventh, and before long was brutalized by Brian Rummelhart with a 2-run home run to center.

The game was in the bin, and the fans knew it. But they also knew which games the Coons had won in the series, and at this point began chanting "Seven – is o-odd!" repeatedly, reminding the Thunder who had won Games 1, 3, and 5 in this series.

A Gerace groundout produced a run in the bottom 7th, leaving the team down by five still. Bottom 8th, Gomez and Harenberg reached before Jamieson grounded to short. Harenberg got tangled up with Ts'ai to break up the double play but probably also broke an arm or a leg or a neck or whatever, because he had to be carted off the field. I very nearly fainted. Tim Stalker would replace him in a shuffle of positions, but was not actually on base as the inning progressed with Diaz losing Kopp to a walk. Hold on a second. The bases are loaded, one out, and it is 7-2. With an XL-sized miracle, the Raccoons might even still pull this one around! Nunley struck out. O'Dell grounded out to Serrato. No miracles for Furballs.

Thunder 7, Raccoons 2 – series tied 3-3

Ramos 2-5, 2B; Gomez 2-4, HR, RBI; Harenberg 2-4; Nunley 2-4, 2B; O'Dell 2-4; Anderson 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

No idea what was wrong with Harenberg. The Druid sat over ancient tomes with ugly pictures all night long and couldn't get it figured out. So… there was NO Kevin Harenberg in Game 7…!