SPRINGFIELD — Friday marks the start of the college baseball season for most programs across the country. Heading into the 2026 season, 92 future and former Drifters are represented at 52 different colleges across all levels of college baseball (NCAA DI, DII & DIII; NAIA & NWAC). This includes 51 NCAA D1 baseball players at 28 institutions.
Two former Drifters were named to Preseason All-Conference lists: second baseman Ryan Cooney (2023) and designated hitter Dominic Hellman (2022), both named Preseason All-Big Ten from the University of Oregon. In 2025, Cooney was named First-Team All-Big Ten, and Hellman was named to the Third Team.
Locally, Bushnell University has already started their NAIA season, going 5-2 against Simpson University and the Masters. Former Drifter Chase Nye (2024 & 2025) was named the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s Player of the Week after going 8-for-17(.471) at the plate in the first weekend of the season. Nye hit safely in all four games, homered twice and scored six runs while being walked three times. Danny Womack (2024 & 2026) scored 4 runs and picked up a hit during the opening weekend of play for the Beacons.
Elsewhere at the NAIA level, future Drifter Colton Perez hit .360 in his first 6 games at Vanguard with 1 double, 2 home runs and 10 RBI’s. Former Drifters Nick Gimino (2025) and Sam Weber (2024 & 2025) also impressed during their first week of spring ball. Gimino, a transfer from Cal Poly, racked up 11 hits in 22 at-bats (.500) across his first six games for Oregon Tech. He has a hit in every game this season so far and has two 3+ hit performances, including a 4-5 showing with a double, 3 RBI’s and 2 runs against Benedictine Mesa. Weber went 2-4 with an RBI, 2 runs and a walk in his first start versus Whitworth in a non-league game for Lewis-Clark State.
NCAA DII also started its season last week. Former Drifters Michael Klein (2025), Caesar Chavez (2025) and Landon Parker (2023) all performed well for their respective schools. Klein, who led the Drifters in innings pitched last summer, pitched 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball for Rogers State University while striking out 6 across two games against the University of Mary. Chavez, who batted a robust .341 for the Drifters last summer despite missing a month with a broken nose and concussion, got off to a hot start this spring at Cal State Los Angeles, hitting .320 across 8 games with 8 hits, 2 doubles and 3 RBIs. Parker, a former Umpqua Community College standout now playing at Northwest Nazarene, pitched 4 scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts in his first two appearances for the Nighthawks.
You can view the full list of Drifters alumni currently playing college baseball on the alumni and records page here.
The Springfield Drifters begin their fifth season of West Coast League baseball on May 29, with their first home game scheduled for June 2. You can view the full schedule here. Season tickets are now on sale at driftersbaseball.com with single-game tickets available beginning April 2.