Drifters’ Ninth Inning Rally Falls Short in Series Opener vs Sweets

Sonny Pena pitching for the Drifters against Walla Walla on July 7th. (Photo by Isaac Abrego)

By Henry Light

SPRINGFIELD – The Drifters’ two-run ninth inning, which ended with the winning run at the plate, represented a crucial sign of life from a struggling lineup, but in the context of their series opener against Walla Walla, it was just too little, too late.

Karsten Hansen had a monster game at the plate (2-for-3, 2B, RBI, BB) while Hunter Meyer remained the heartbeat of the lineup (2-for-4, R, SB), but Springfield (9-22, 6-16) continued to struggle for offensive cohesion while Walla Walla (20-14, 15-10) took a 6-3 win, largely thanks to a three-run ninth inning.

“We put way too much pressure on our pitching staff to be perfect,” Drifters head coach Jeff Lyle said.
“Once we let our guard down, and we realized we didn't have to swing at every pitch thrown, and we made some adjustments late in the game, it was much better, but just too late.”

Owen Cheyne started the Drifters off with four scoreless innings, consistently drawing weak-contact outs to work around four hits and two walks.

Ezra James faced instant pressure in the fifth when the leadoff hitter tripled past a diving effort in the outfield, and the Sweets soon opened the scoring on a passed ball. The righty from Southwestern Oregon Community College settled in, ending the inning with a strikeout and a lineout to strand two runners.

“They are pitching well enough that we should be winning a lot of baseball games right now, but we're not,” Lyle said. “It makes our pitchers go out and feel like they have to put up a zero, like they have to get strikeouts, and feel like they have to do some things themselves.”

The Sweets took a 2-0 lead thanks to consecutive doubles to open the seventh inning, but Sonny Pena soon struck out consecutive batters, pushing his scoreless inning streak to 12.1 since June 12.

Meyer led off the bottom of the inning with a timely offensive spark, taking a first-pitch fastball the opposite way for a single. Meyer advanced to third thanks to a single by Preston Armstrong and an aggressive tag on a flyout to left field, before Kahaku Harrison cut the lead in half with an RBI single.

“(Meyer) works his butt off every single day in the cage, and he carries what he does in the cage and in free work over to games. It's nice, and some guys will see the way he carries himself and follow it,” Lyle said.

While Pena collected two more strikeouts in the eighth inning, a leadoff walk gradually came around to score, putting Walla Walla ahead 3-1 and ending his streak. Pena showed composure to end the inning with a three-pitch swinging strikeout.

After the Sweets pushed across three runs in the ninth, Colton Perez tripled on a towering fly ball to right that eluded the Sweets’ outfielders. Hansen crushed a one-out double down the left-field line to score Perez, and Peyton Tyner’s infield single allowed Hansen to make the game 6-3 on an error.

“It's getting back to what he knows he can do. I mean, he's a Junior College All-American — he had one of the better seasons of anybody that we have,” Lyle said. “It's just him getting around, getting opportunities, and knowing that he's got permission to fail, and he can go out and do his thing.”

The Drifters are in the midst of a four-game losing streak, but the pieces of a winning performance are there. The pitching staff held up its end of the bargain in the opener, and with several hitters on heaters, it will just take a supporting cast to fight for a home series win.

“I would like us to see us have a little more fight early and not wait until we get punched to realize that we're in a dogfight,” Lyle said. “Offensively, things have been tough, so just to see some better swings early and try to get some traffic going early.”

First pitch for Wednesday’s game against the Sweets is set for 6:35 p.m. The game can be streamed on the Drifters’ YouTube channel.

Wednesday’s game is also the Drifters Christmas in July game presented by The Christmas Junction. Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and Santa Rapid will all be in attendance. There will be a costume contest, and Christmas music will be playing throughout the night. In addition, Wednesday’s game is also a Weenie Wednesday, with hot dogs priced at $2. Tickets are available at DriftersBaseball.com.