SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — 2023 Sandpoint High graduate Austin Dillon recently closed out his 2025 campaign for the Springfield Drifters, a summer collegiate wood-bat baseball team that competes in the West Coast League.

Since his last outing against the Marion Berries, reported on in the Bee in mid-July, Dillon made four more appearances. In a 7-6 win against the Corvallis Knights on July 18, the 6-foot-4-inch right-handed pitcher allowed just three hits and threw 12 of his 20 pitches for strikes across 1.2 innings in relief. He put out batters from Northwest Nazarene University (NAIA), the University of Portland (NCAA Division I), UCLA (NCAA Division I), the University of Washington (NCAA Division I), and Santa Clara University (NCAA Division I) during the appearance.

Another quality outing came July 26 during a 15-10 win over the Port Angeles Lefties. The former two-time All-Inland Empire League selection allowed a hit and struck out one batter as he recorded the final two outs of the game. He threw 10 of his 16 pitches for strikes, three of which were swinging, and put out batters from Centralia College (NWAC) and California State University at San Bernardino (NCAA Division II) in the process.

On the year, the Yakima Valley College rising redshirt sophomore tossed 31 innings and struck out 25 batters across 16 appearances, four of which were starts, to go along with a 7.84 ERA. Springfield finished the season seventh out of nine teams in the league's south division with a 22-32 record.