SPRINGFIELD – Three 2025 Springfield Drifters – Cesar Chavez, Andrew Gauna, and Sonny Pena all had their best week of baseball this season.
Chavez, an outfielder at Cal State Los Angeles, went 10-for-15 at the plate in four games against Cal State Stanislaus. He batted .900 with 9 hits over the final three games of the series and finished the weekend with three doubles, four RBIs, and eight runs scored. Gauna, who played for the Drifters the last two summers and transferred to San Diego ahead of this season, racked up seven hits in 13 at-bats while walking four times for a .647 on-base percentage across four games vs. USC and Oregon State. Pena struck out a season high nine batters across 6.1 innings of one-run, one-hit baseball for Cal State Monterey Bay in a start against Cal State Dominguez Hills.
■ Elsewhere on the mound, Drifters alum Toby Twist (2023), Austin Wolfe (’23), Tanner Douglas (’23), and Eli Holbert (’22 & ’23) all had great outings. Twist, a left-hander for the Oregon Ducks, started a Tuesday game against Xavier and came out of the bullpen on Sunday against Indiana, finishing the week with eight scoreless innings. He struck out 8 while only allowing 2 hits and 2 walks across the two games. Wolfe, another southpaw, struck out 8 batters across 6.1 innings for Bushnell in a league game vs. College of Idaho. Douglas, a South Medford product, struck out three San Diego batters on only 15 pitches in a perfect inning for Oregon State. Holbert, a hard-throwing righty that touched 95 mph during his time with the Drifters, pitched a season-high three innings of scoreless baseball and struck out three La Salle batters for Virginia Commonwealth.
■ Looking ahead to 2026, Drifters left-hander Luis Pablo Navarro had his best outing to date for Tulane, tossing 3.1 shutout innings against Creighton for the Green Wave. His teammate at Tulane and with the Drifters this summer, Johnny Elliott, went 1-4.
■ Other notable performances from the weekend include 2026 Drifter Zach Story going 4-9 with a double, 2 RBIs, 3 runs and 3 walks for UC Davis. Ryan Cooney (’23) drove in seven runs for Oregon during a 5-for-12 weekend at the plate. The second basemen for the Ducks had 2 doubles and a home run during Oregon’s sweep of Indiana. Mac Moyer (’22) also had a big weekend in the Big-10 as the Nebraska product went 8-for-18 with 3 doubles, 6 runs scored and 4 RBIs for the Cornhuskers.
■ Wednesday, Lane faced Chemeketa in an NWAC South showdown and each team started a 2026 Drifter on the mound. Lucas Geren from Lane outdueled Chemeketa’s Jack Klee in a 5-4 win for the Titan. Geren earned the victory, going five innings
