West Linn 12U baseball headed to the World Series

Published 11:59 pm Sunday, July 27, 2025

The West Linn Select 12U team is ready to take on the world.

West Linn is one of the best teams in its age group in the region, and in response, was awarded a berth to the 12U Cal Ripken World Series in Branson, Missouri, from Aug. 6-16.

“It’s super cool for the kids,” said West Linn coach Ryan Holmes, who led this same group of players to the 10U Cal Ripken World Series two summers ago. “This year, there’s almost 30 U.S. teams, and then there’s something like 18 international teams that come out, too, so you get Korea, Japan, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.”

The team

This year’s team is led by Holmes and assistant coaches J.J. Portlock, Bryan Reed, Matt Radochonski and Dennis Weehunt. The players include: shortstop/center fielder Will Roland; pitcher/third baseman Blake Holmes; designated hitter Owen Gulick; catcher/pitcher Harry Reed; first baseman/pitcher Theo Eagle; first baseman/pitcher Hudson Portlock; shortstop/center fielder Logan Glaze; outfielder/pitcher Gaege Peng; catcher/outfielder Jackson Radochonski; outfielder/second baseman Nixon Perry; and second baseman/outfielder Liam Hand.

An automatic berth

Though West Linn had to battle through its tough regular season, then state and regional tournaments as 10-year-olds, this year was different. The 12U World Series granted them an automatic berth to the tournament in Branson and West Linn is ready to make the most of its chances.

“We’re happy that they gave us a pass to Branson because of … the success that we’ve had,” Ryan Holmes said. “It’s kind of neat. We’ve been together since eight years old so they’re really solid. We’ve got the lineup and we hit everybody. Everybody plays and it’s been fun.”

While West Linn didn’t follow a traditional route to the World Series, don’t think the team hasn’t been tested or well-prepared. Over the course of the summer, West Linn has gone 38-19-1 and strung together winning streaks of six and eight games.

“We like (the automatic Series berth) because we were able to plan for it as a team,” Ryan Holmes said. “There’s been enough local tournaments here for us to stay busy and enough competitive tournaments where we’re keeping ourselves sharp. We’ll go into Branson playing our best baseball. We’re going to go in there in a great position to really be competitive and compete as a group.”

Ready to compete

With the 10U World Series experience under its belt, and with the entire 2025 season to prepare for the 12U Series, West Linn believes it is positioned to succeed in Branson.

“The strength of our team is our hitting,” Ryan Holmes said. “We have eight or nine guys out of the 11 who have hit home runs this year and we have four guys with … double-digit home runs this year.

“We don’t have super powerful, dominant arms, so it will just be … a team effort. And we do have a good defense, so as long as we’re not giving up walks, we’re going to be competitive against anybody.”

GoFundMe to aid team

That said, none of this 12-day trip to the Midwest comes cheaply. To offset the cost of plane rides, hotels, meals and more, the team has started a GoFundMe account to offset expenses for team parents. See the team’s GoFundMe page here – tinyurl.com/5543za46.

“We’re all paying our way to go — coaches, players and everyone,” Ryan Holmes said. “We’re just trying to raise enough money to support and help the families cover those expenses … trying to lessen the burden on the families for all the travel and time away from work at and hotel costs.”