Coupeville Sports

Jordan Wilcox is joined by his fan club — brother Kyle, dad Mark and mom Mindy.

Nine outs from a spot in the national semifinals, the Western Washington University baseball team hit a snag.

Blowing a four-run lead in the seventh Sunday, the Vikings fell 6-5 to James Madison in 10 innings.

While the loss didn’t knock former Coupeville High School star Jordan Wilcox and Co. out of the National Club Baseball Association Division 1 World Series, it did make their trip a little tougher.

Western, seeded seventh in the eight-team field, will face third-seeded Iowa in a loser-out game Monday in Tampa. Win that one and they live on to play fourth-seeded Penn State, which joins James Madison as the only currently unbeaten squads in the double-elimination tourney.

Second-seed Illinois, which lost to Western in the opener, and fifth-seed California, have been knocked out, so the Vikings have already beaten their initial seeding.

Against James Madison, the Vikings shot out to a 5-1 lead before surrendering a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh. The Dukes won the game on a sac fly in the bottom of the tenth.

Wilcox, a baseball and basketball standout at CHS, continued his strong play.

He whacked an RBI single (his third RBI in two games at the World Series) and eked out a walk, leaving his series average at .375.

In the field, Wilcox chipped in with two assists and five putouts while playing second base.