Drifters Debrief: Week 13
Lucas Geren pitching for Lane this season
Springfield — Lucas Geren, who joined the Drifters at the end of last season and will return this summer, pitched another gem for Lane Community College, tossing 6.2 scoreless innings for the Titans in their final series of the regular season against Umpqua Community College. Geren fanned five while only allowing four hits in the Titans' 1-0 win over the Riverhawks, helping Lane lock up the #2 seed in the NWAC South and host a regional this week.
Geren’s teammate Austin Takahashi, who will also join the Drifters this summer, went 5-for-17 at the plate and drove in three runs during the Titans' series win against UCC. Takahashi, who grew up in Camas Valley, Oregon, and graduated from Roseburg High School, had RBI hits in both games on Saturday in his return to Champion Car Wash Field.
Also in the series, incoming Drifter Griffin Scott had his longest outing of the season, hurling eight innings of two-run baseball. The southpaw committed to Oregon struck out six and only allowed three hits in the Titans' 2-1 loss to the Riverhawks. Tristan Ledbetter, who just recently signed with the Drifters, had another strong outing for UCC, only allowing one earned run across six innings for the Riverhawks on Saturday.
Elsewhere at the NWAC level, Karsten Hansen and Dante Santulli had standout performances for Lower Columbia. Hansen, an outfielder from Olympia, Washington, went 6-for-15 at the plate with three RBIs and four walks to finish with a .526 on-base percentage in the Red Devils series against Tacoma. Santulli struck out five and walked none while allowing just one earned run across 4.2 innings in his longest outing of the season.
In California, Diego Vazquez had another great weekend at the plate for Fullerton College in the 3C2A Super Regional, finishing 4-for-13 with a triple and five RBIs. The Hornets will now face Santa Ana College next weekend in the SoCal Regional Finals.
Several Drifters alumni also had standout performances this past weekend. Eli Holbert (22’ & 23’) had his best performance of the season for Virginia Commonwealth. The hard-throwing right-hander from Sherwood, Oregon, only allowed two hits with no earned runs and struck out a season high nine batters for the Rams in a win over St. Joseph. Texas Tech catcher Matt Quintanar (22’) enjoyed the elevation in Provo, Utah, over the weekend, smashing two home runs and picking up a double during a 5-for-10 weekend at the plate during the Red Raiders series against BYU. Andrew Gauna (24’ & 25’) had a .667 on-base percentage for San Diego, finishing with four hits and four RBIs in the Toreros series against Pacific.
Also notable from this past weekend, Drifters alum Jack Brooks (25’) had a bases-clearing double on Saturday to give Oregon the lead against #1 UCLA. Oregon ended up winning 9-6 because of Brooks' hit, to give the Bruins their first Big Ten loss of the season. Caden Yong (25’), a catcher who got some reps in the outfield last summer with the Drifters after not playing in the outfield since middle school, made a highlight reel play in right field for Fordham on Sunday. The sophomore tracked down a deep fly ball and held onto the ball after slamming through the right-field wall during the Rams series finale against Saint Louis. Mac Moyer (22’) had another great weekend for Nebraska, hitting .385 with five hits and four runs scored in the Huskers' sweep over Iowa. Moyer is currently third in the Big Ten with a .378 average and leads the conference with 79 hits on the season.
You can view the full list of Drifters alumni currently playing college baseball on the alumni and records page here.
The Springfield Drifters begin their fifth season of West Coast League baseball on May 29, with their first home game scheduled for June 2. You can view the full schedule here. Season tickets are now on sale at driftersbaseball.com with single-game tickets available here.