Drifters Dominate Berries 12-1 for Series Opening Win
(Photo by Isaac Abrego)
By Henry Light
SALEM — Drifters leadoff man Hunter Meyer kicked off a dominant evening for the lineup when he grounded the opening pitch against Marion up the middle in a 12-1 win. Meyer went on to open the scoring in a three-run first inning, and Springfield never looked back.
Springfield (14-23, 11-17) outhit the Berries (14-21, 10-18) 11-4 in a two-way effort. Nolan Miller headlined the offense on his 20th birthday, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while Zach Story, Karsten Hansen and Nick Gimino also had two-RBI performances. The win moved Springfield to 4-0 against the Berries this season and put the Drifters in the driver's seat to win their third straight series.
“It was nice watching the guys compete again and have so much energy and fun doing it,” Drifters head coach Jeff Lyle said. “The offense contributed early and stayed on the gas pedal for nine innings”
Meyer and Chase Nye, who walked in his first at-bat of the season for the Drifters, came around when Nolan Miller saw a slider all the way in and fought it off the opposite way for a single. Story put Springfield ahead 3-0 with a line drive to left field.
Two innings later in the third, the Drifters loaded the bases with a walk and singles by Miller and LJ Layhew. After three straight walks with the bases loaded, Nye put the finishing touches on a four-run inning with a sacrifice fly to give Springfield a 7-0 lead.
“Nolan Miller had some loud barrels on his birthday,” Lyle said.
Drifters starter Ethan Atchley from Rice finished strong in the third inning, mixing sliders and high fastballs near-flawlessly to total four strikeouts and hold the Berries to one hit.
“Ethan has been going out and dominating the strike zone with strike one and filling it up with all his pitches and making quick work of hitters,” Lyle said. “When he gets those first pitch strikes, he makes himself near-unhittable.”
Springfield extended its lead to 9-0 through patience and Berries mistakes in the top of the fourth. Layhew and Story drew consecutive walks with two outs and advanced on a wild pitch, allowing them to take advantage of an error in left field.
Carlo Ramirez took over in the bottom of the inning. The Fresno Pacific righty walked the bases loaded with one out, but dialed in his command in a clutch moment despite the big lead to escape with a foul out and a strikeout.
“When our guys are locked in from top to bottom like they were tonight, they’re a very fun group to watch and a tough team to beat,” Lyle said of Springfield’s four relievers, who all joined the team in the past two weeks.
Marion pushed across its first run in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Nye and Gimino came through with a timely 6-4-3 double play to end the rally.
Cooper Mullens’ emphatic first hit of the game, a double to the wall in left-center field in the seventh inning, brought in the Drifters’ tenth run. Springfield tacked on two more runs in a three-hit eighth inning thanks to Hansen’s RBI single and Gimino’s RBI double to the left-field wall.
Colin Gebler gave the Drifters two scoreless innings in his second appearance with the team, striking out three batters across the seventh and eighth. Oregon commit Griffin Scott finished the win with a two-strikeout ninth inning.
“The guys came out with high energy and effort today, and it showed on both sides of the ball for all nine innings,” Lyle said.
The Drifters will go for the series win at 6:35 p.m. tomorrow. The game will be streamed on the WCL Live App.