Harrison Homers in Wire-to-Wire Win vs Knights

(Photo by Ella Poor)

By Henry Light

SPRINGFIELD – While accomplishing a symbolic second straight win over Corvallis for the first time since 2024, the Drifters deepened the symbolism with a breakout performance from incoming freshman Kahaku Harrison and a combined shutout on the mound.

Springfield (13-22, 10-16) handed the Knights (18-17,14-12) an early deficit and never looked back, while Rice University-bound Harrison went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs to put an exclamation mark on an 11-0 win.

“I’m just excited and happy for Drifters nation,” Drifters head coach Jeff Lyle said. “It’s the guys continuously improving, trying to get better in some aspect of the game every day, and when you’re getting run support like that, it makes pitching a lot easier.”

From the first inning on, the Drifters' offense carried over its momentum from a nine-run win in the opener. Consecutive two-out singles by Cooper Mullens and Johnny Elliott derailed Corvallis starter Neal Burtis’ momentum, and Mullens eventually scored the opening run on a walk by Preston Armstrong. Karsten Hansen then gave the Drifters a 3-0 lead with a single to left-center field.

Harrison kept the pressure on Corvallis with a leadoff, two-strike single in the second inning. While his upcoming home run was an emphatic example of his recent success at the plate, muscling an 0-2 sinker on the outside edge of the zone through the left side of the infield displayed the quieter adjustments he’s made.

“I was just trying to be aggressive and not let the pitcher beat me by taking, so I’ve just gotta stick to that approach of swinging often,” Harrison said.

Nick Gimino moved Harrison up with a one-out single, and Mullens promptly brought him home by dropping a single in front of the center fielder.

Now the owner of a 4-0 lead, Kaden Harris worked his third straight scoreless inning for the Drifters in the top of the third. Harris kept Springfield’s excellent defense — which ranks tied for fourth in the West Coast League with a .967 fielding percentage —  well-fed, recording the first nine outs through consistent weak contact.

“I was just trying to get to two strikes as fast as I can, and then I knew I could throw them anything, even off the plate a little bit, and maybe get a ground out, so it was really just throwing my off speeds with two strikes,” Harris said.

Harrison’s highlight of a tumultuous start to the season came with two outs in the third inning, with Hansen on base via a walk. Harrison belted a first-pitch fastball 394 ft over the left-field wall for his first home run of the summer. After taking his lumps against college pitching earlier in the season, Harrison knew the ball was gone off the bat and entered a home run trot before he was halfway down the first-base line.

“It definitely felt good,” Harrison said. “I knew I had it off the bat, and I’ve kinda been struggling, so it felt good to finally get one.”

Harris held the Knights scoreless for five innings, striking out three batters to leave four hits and two walks stranded. The efficient 78-pitch outing left Springfield’s bullpen well-positioned to see out a win.

“I was able to locate all my pitches really well and go to both sides of the plate, and that’s where I found success,” Harris said.

Carlo Ramirez gave the Drifters a scoreless sixth inning in his team debut, picking up his first strikeout with the team in the winning effort. Griffin Scott then extended the combined shutout by four outs in his second Drifters outing.

Springfield tacked on five runs in the seventh inning through a ground ball single to right field by Nolan Miller, a wild pitch, and a three-run double high off the left field wall by Hunter Meyer.

Blake Stavros finished the combined shutout, recording two of the final five outs with strikeouts to prompt the most energetic Drifters handshake line of the season.

“We come out every day and try to fight, but it’s nice to have this turnaround (in energy) with a lot of guys who have been here since the start of the year, and also some new guys who have come in and regrouped us,” Lyle said. “It’s nice to see all the faces in the handshake line after, and seeing it getting longer instead of shorter this time of year.”

The Drifters will go for their first series sweep over Corvallis in franchise history on July 12, with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. The game will be streamed on the Drifters’ YouTube channel.