Kyle Bodamer is becoming a hitting machine. (Shelli Trumbull photos)
Ben Etzell has been getting stronger as the Wolves head towards the postseason.
Ben Etzell has Sultan’s number.
That number is 20, which is how many Turk batters the Coupeville High School hurler whiffed this week. Following up an 11-K performance Monday, he sent another nine down swinging Friday to help lead the Wolves to a huge 6-2 win.
The fourth win in the last five games for Coupeville, it improved them to 9-10 and all but guaranteed they will open the playoffs at home Wednesday, May 1.
The starter in the postseason opener is expected to be Etzell, and he is a pitcher on fire right now.
Other than a brief burp in the top of the seventh, he was dealing, whiffing at least one hitter in every inning. His best showing was the third, when he gunned down the side, part of a run of four straight strikeouts for the Wolf junior.
The few times Sultan managed to put the bat on the ball, Etzell’s defense gobbled it right up, with shortstop Josh Bayne handling several hard choppers flawlessly.
First baseman Aaron Trumbull chipped in with his own highlight play, turning an unassisted double play to end the fourth, snaring a liner and then chasing down a straying runner.
Meanwhile, the Wolves pounded out 10 hits — two apiece from Bayne, Kyle Bodamer and Morgan Payne — and were a hit or two away from running Sultan completely off the field.
They struck early, loading the bases in the bottom of the second with no outs. Bodamer than delivered with a thunderous two-run single to left center.
Runs in the third (on a throwing error) and fourth (a bases loaded walk to Kurtis Smith) increased the lead, but Sultan kept on finding a way to escape from danger at the very last moment, preventing the Wolves from throwing up a huge inning.
It was more than enough, though, with Etzell painting the corners — he only gave up one hit prior to the seventh — and Coupeville stretched the lead to 6-0 with two more in the sixth as Etzell and Payne smacked back-to-back RBI hits.
Sultan, which spent much of the game looking they wished the season was already over, staged a mini-rally in the seventh, getting three of its four hits.
But even that was over almost before it began, as Etzell got strikeout number nine, packaged around a pair of shallow fly-outs.
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