Bend Elks' Derek Gellos connects for a base hit during a game against the Springfield Drifters at Vince Genna Stadium in Bend on Aug. 1, 2023.

Not even being on the losing end of an epic 14-inning game against the Bend Elks could dampen the spirits of the Springfield Drifters coach.

It was $2 Tuesday, Vince Genna Stadium was packed and Tommy Richards was back in the town where he grew up and coaching against the team he grew up watching and for which he played multiple seasons.

“It just feels great to be home,” Richards said. “It was a good atmosphere, a really good baseball game. I love it here.

“A lot of really good memories here at Vince Genna,” Richards added. “This was a homecoming for me for sure. I remember watching some really good players come through here, (current Elks coach) Joey Wong was one of them.”

For the past two years, Richards — who starred as an infielder for Bend High before playing for Washington State and who was the West Coast League MVP while playing for the Elks in 2009 and 2010 — has been building not one, but two baseball programs from the ground up.

In 2021 Richards was hired to coach the newly formed Bushnell University (formerly Northwest Christian) baseball team in Eugene. That’s his spring gig, and this is the second summer that he’s led the Springfield Drifters, who are in their second season in the WCL.

But for the 33-year-old father of three just starting to cut his teeth in the coaching profession, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It is compelling work,” said Richards, who was drafted in the 24th round by the Baltimore Orioles in 2012. “Coaching at Bushnell has been awesome, I wouldn’t change my job for any job. I got a fire in my belly for Bushnell and the Drifters. It is fun to build stuff, so there are ups and downs. But the thing we are rallying behind is doing things the right way and the results will come.”

Through two seasons, something is going right at Bushnell and for the Drifters. From the first year to the second under Richards, Bushnell saw its win total more than double, winning 11 games in 2022 to winning 23 games this year. And the Drifters have already won more games this summer (20 as of Wednesday) than they did all of last year (17).

“With Bushnell, it is a brand new thing, so you aren’t trying to change the culture,” Richards said. “You are just trying to make it great. With the Drifters the thing that has been the most fun is you play a lot of games during the summer, so you are just pounding away at the work to be done. Then the important thing is to not get discouraged when you aren’t winning games.”

Elks still in the hunt

With the regular season in its final stages, the Bend Elks are still in the hunt for one of the final spots in the eight-team WCL playoffs.

Following their 7-5 win over the Drifters Tuesday night when catcher Luca DiPaolo (University of Southern California) hit a walk-off two-run home run in the 14th inning, the Elks’ first postseason berth since 2015 is still in play. But Bend will need some things to fall into place.

The Ridgefield Raptors qualified for the playoffs by winning the first half of the league schedule, and the Corvallis Knights or the Cowlitz Black Bears are jostling for the second automatic berth by finishing with the best second-half record. Both Cowlitz and Corvallis appear primed to reach the playoffs.

That leaves one spot available from the South Division, and it comes down to the Elks and the Portland Pickles, and which team will finish with the best season-long winning percentage.

Prior to Wednesday’s slate of games, the Elks trailed the Pickles by three games. However, the Pickles are playing perennial WCL power Corvallis prior to their final series against the Walla Walla Sweets. The Elks will not only need to win games against the Drifters and Cowlitz, but they also need the Pickles to lose multiple games.

If both the Pickles and the Elks finish with the same record at the end of the season, the Elks have the tiebreaker, having won four of the six games against the Pickles.

The Elks’ final regular-season home game is set for Thursday night at Vince Genna against the Drifters, followed by a three-game road trip at Cowlitz to conclude the regular season.