Drifters Lose Lead Late, Fall to Elks 7-8 in Extras
Andrew Miller on the mound during practice at Drifters Fan Fest and Media Day
By Knight Jarecki,
BEND — The Springfield Drifters were one out away from their first win of the season, but the Bend Elks (3-0, 3-0) rallied for an 8-7 extra-inning victory Sunday at Vince Genna Stadium to complete a three-game sweep of the Drifters. The Drifters (0-3, 0-3) head home winless after three competitive road games in which they held leads late.
“We competed. We've improved in a couple of areas each day. We've started throwing the ball a little better,” Lyle said. “But we're still not taking care of the baseball in important moments, and we're still lacking the ability to come up with the big hit and drive runners in, in big moments.”
In a wild back-and-forth game that saw six lead chances, the Drifters took a 7-6 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. After two straight outs to begin the bottom of the ninth, two singles and a double allowed Bend to tie the game, and an error in the bottom of the tenth inning allowed the winning run to score for the Elks to give Bend their first series sweep of the season.
The Drifters jumped out to early leads in the first and third innings. Peyton Tyner had a sacrifice fly in the top of the first to put the Drifters up 1-0 before Bend answered with runs in the next two frames. In the 3rd, Brodereick Buhr led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch before six of the next seven batters reached base safely, resulting in RBI singles by LJ Layhew, Nick Gimino, Jalen Riddle and Mana Hefferman to give the Drifters a 5-1 lead.
Bend answered with one run in the bottom of the third and three runs in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead 6-5 after five innings. Aiden Gebhard reached on a walk in the next inning in the sixth and stole his third base of the game, which forced an errant throw into the outfield and allowed the Drifters to knot the game at six. With his third steal, Gebhard reached five steals on the season to lead the WCL through three games.
Gebhard, a two-way player from Northwest Nazarene playing in his third season with the Drifters, hasn’t pitched yet, but Head Coach Jeff Lyle has loved his play in center field so far and is excited to see him on the mound soon. “He's a weapon everywhere,” Lyle said. “He's one of the top center fielders in the league. He can swing it. He can run. And we haven't used him on the mound yet so he's got a little bit of the Ohtani game in him on the two-way side.”
The game remained tied at six in the later innings thanks to Andrew Miller, who had his best outing as a Drifter. The right-hander, who is in the transfer portal after graduating from George Fox, threw 3.1 innings out of the bullpen, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out three and walking one. In the eighth inning, he struck out two batters and snagged a line drive on a comebacker to complete a 1-2-3 inning and preserve the Springfield lead after Layhew picked up his second RBI hit of the game in the top half of the inning. Miller also recorded the first two outs in the ninth before being pulled after allowing a single.
“That kid is just an absolute dog,” Lyle said. “He is as good of a competitor as there is. He's got good stuff that matches his mentality. He came off in the eighth and looked at coach Styles and said, ‘I got the ball. I'm going back out.’ He's hard to square up. He's got good stuff.”
Bushnell pitcher Blake Stavros started his first game of the season. The fourth-year Drifter and Willamette High School graduate allowed three runs — though only one of them was earned — in 3.2 innings while allowing three hits. “He went out there and did what we needed him to do. We wanted him to keep us in the lead. He threw well enough to do that,” Lyle said.
Layhew, a redshirt freshman catcher from Rice, reached base five times tonight, going 2-for-2 with two RBI singles and three walks. He also had a great defensive game and made an impressive play by throwing out a runner on a backpick to third in the sixth inning. “He just did everything right today,” Lyle said. “His quiet leadership really goes unnoticed to a lot of people except for the coaches. We see him being an extension of the staff on the field.
Riddle and Heffernan also had two hits, with five Drifters reaching base safely two or more times. Buhr hit a double and scored two runs in the losing effort.
The Drifters return home for a six-game homestand. Tuesday will be the home opener at Hamlin Sports Complex with the Drifters hosting the Yakima Valley Pippins for the first of three games. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
On Tuesday for Opening Day, the Drifters are hosting Springfield Night to celebrate the people, services, and partnerships that support our Springfield community. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a 2026 Drifters magnet schedule courtesy of our friends at Team Springfield.
Tickets for opening day can be bought online at Driftersbaseball.com. The game will be streamed on the Springfield Drifters YouTube Channel.