Drifters Debrief: Week 15
Peyton Tyner batting for Lane this Spring
Springfield — Incoming Drifter Peyton Tyner had a weekend to remember in the NWAC Tournament, finishing 10-for-22 with two doubles, a home run and seven RBIs across five games for Lane Community College, to help the Titans reach the NWAC Championship Game. The Marist High School graduate also scored five runs and had a walk-off single against Edmond on Friday in the bottom of the 10th inning to help the Titans come back from a 7-5 deficit in extra innings.
Tyner’s teammate at Lane, Griffin Scott, who will also join the Drifters this summer before enrolling at the University of Oregon in the fall, had another great pitching performance for Lane in the NWAC Tournament on Saturday. Scott, a southpaw, struck out seven batters across six innings of one-run baseball in the Titans' 5-1 win against Everett. With the win, Scott improved to 9-3 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.09 across 73.1 innings pitched.
Also, at the NWAC Tournament, future Drifter Karsten Hansen had a successful weekend at the plate for Lower Columbia. Hansen, an outfielder from Olympia, Washington, finished with two doubles, two RBIs, and five runs scored during a 6-for-20 weekend at the dish for the Devils. Lower Columbia defeated Lane 12-2 on Monday to win their 16th NWAC Championship. Hansen went 1-4 with a double, an RBI, a run scored and two walks in the winning effort for the Devils.
In the Big Ten tournament, Drifters alums Jack Brooks (25’) and Ryan Cooney (23’) had decent weekends offensively for the Ducks. Brooks hit his sixth home run of the season and finished 3-for-11 at the plate with a double and three runs scored. Cooney finished with an impressive .533 on-base percentage, walking five times and going 3-for-10 with a double and two runs scored for the Ducks. Oregon reached the Big Ten Championship game and was announced as an NCAA Baseball Regional Host on Monday. The Ducks are the #11 seed and will host Oregon State, Washington State, and Yale in the Eugene Regional that begins on Friday.
With Washington State coming to town for the NCAA Tournament, it will also mark the return of former Drifters Head Coach Tommy Richards to Lane County. Richards, who coached the Drifters in 2022 and 2023 and was previously the head coach at Bushnell University, is currently an assistant coach at Washington State, where he helped the Cougars win the Mountain West Conference this season and punch their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2010, when Richards was playing for the Cougs.
Elsewhere, alum Eli Holbert (22’ & 23’) and Isaac Evaniew (22’) had strong outings pitching for VCU and Little Rock, respectively. Holbert, nicknamed Peaches during his time with the Drifters, tossed seven innings across two outings in the Atlantic-10 Tournament, striking out ten and allowing just two earned runs as the Rams knocked off Rhode Island to win the A-10 Tournament and punch their ticket to an NCAA Regional. Evaniew, a Churchill High School graduate, allowed only one run across five innings and two games in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, helping the Trojans win the OVC and advance to the NCAA Tournament. Evaniew pitched three scoreless innings on Sunday to earn the save in Little Rock’s 10-6 win over Illinois.
VCU is the #4 seed in the Chapel Hill regional hosted by #5 North Carolina, and Little Rock is the #4 seed in the Hattiesburg regional hosted by #9 Southern Miss.
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.