SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield Drifters fell to Ridgefield 12-10 on Sunday, losing the series 2-1 and eliminating their playoff hopes. Still, the Drifters fought hard in the penultimate series of the season, competing with high-scoring games.
“They’re a good ballclub, man. They have really good athletes, top to bottom, offensively. They can swing it, but so can we,” Drifters coach Jeff Lyle said. “I haven’t felt like we’ve ever been out of a game because of what we can do offensively. A play or two different, a pitch or two, there are a lot of what ifs. But it was a hard-fought game, and I felt like we had good energy and really good effort, and we punched back when we needed to.”
The Drifters trailed 10-3 midway through the fifth inning and rallied to score seven runs in the fifth and sixth innings, trimming the deficit to two in spite of the Raptors scoring in the top of the sixth. The momentum ended there for the Drifters, who failed to score another run.
Scoring 10 runs is nothing to hang your head about, though, and it continues a trend of strong offense from the Drifters. In their past six games, the Drifters scored 10 or more runs in five of them. The Raptors have similar statistics, having scored nine or more runs in six of their past seven.
The Drifters know any game against the Raptors will be a shootout, so preparing for these games means preparing for a comeback.
“During the comeback, exactly word for word, I said, ‘If we play clean baseball, we have a chance.’ With the guys that we have in our lineup, we are always within a swing of getting right back in it,” Lyle said. “And it showed when we went out, and I don’t know how many doubles we hit in a row, but we got right back in the game, and you can see the momentum switch. You can see the other teams realize we can swing it, so they don’t ever feel safe.
“We’re never out of it. What we can do offensively, just staying patient, letting the game come to us. I felt like we’ve done a good job lately of not trying to force things, and it’s paid off,” Lyle said. Just unfortunately, we gave up more than we scored.”
A big helping hand for the Drifters on Sunday – and through the whole season – was Nolan Miller. Miller recently broke the single-season RBI franchise record for the Drifters, and drove in three more on Sunday to extend his record to 36.
“It was an unbelievable night out on Nolan, and it’s weird to say, but like those are the things we expect out of Nolan Miller,” Lyle said. “He’s getting better and better at first base every single day, and he’s also a guy that we can run out in the outfield if we need to, so he’s just super valuable.”
With only one series left against the Bend Elks, the Drifters look to finish a strong second half of the season by finishing with their best winning percentage in franchise history. Currently, they sit at .431, just above the 2023 season’s .430.
“We need energy and effort. It’s that part of the season where you want to make sure guys are still playing for each other, and still playing for the Drifters, and making sure guys aren’t just going through the motions at this point,” Lyle said. “So we still have something to play for, finishing strong. We want to go out and end on a series win.”
