Coupeville Sports

Left to right, CHS coach Willie Smith and seniors Jake Tumblin, Kurtis Smith, Ben Etzell, Wade Schaef and Morgan Payne. (John Fisken photo)

Sultan just wants the season to end.

As the Turks run out the string on a winless high school baseball campaign, they are the perfect team to help Coupeville recapture that winning feeling.

And the Wolves have taken advantage so far, rolling to back-to-back victories to climb back to .500 as the playoffs loom on the horizon.

Wednesday, it was a 10-3 romp at home for CHS, with sophomore hurler CJ Smith throwing wicked heat and fanning a career-high 10 batters.

Smith scattered five hits, walked just one and dominated the Turks from start to finish.

“CJ was very solid on the mound,” said Coupeville coach Willie Smith. “It was great to see him get back in the groove and be dominant on the mound.”

With the pitchin’ poppin’, the Wolf bats came out blazin’ in support.

Jake Tumblin ripped three hits, including a standup double, stole two bases, scored three runs and knocked in a run to kick-start things off at the top of the lineup.

“He is really starting to set the table for our guys and get in a groove offensively for us,” said Willie Smith.

The Wolves jumped on Sultan for four in the third and three more in the sixth to blow things wide open.

In the third Coupeville slapped together four straight hits to chase the Turks starter. Tumblin, Kurtis Smith, Ben Etzell and Aaron Trumbull all had the sweet swing going.

The later rally was started, once again, by leadoff man Tumblin, who slapped a single, then teamed with freshman Clay Reilly, who had walked, on a double steal.

Etzell crushed a two-run double to the deepest, darkest region of center, then scored himself when Sultan bobbled a hard-hit grounder by Josh Bayne.

The Wolves continue a wild, five-games-in-six-days week when they host Granite Falls Thursday in a makeup of a game rained out earlier in the season. Coupeville travels to Sultan Friday, then Lakewood Saturday, before beginning postseason play next week.

Now 8-8 overall, 7-8 in Cascade Conference play, the Wolves will be the #2 seed among league 1A teams for the district playoffs.

South Whidbey clinched the top seed with a 5-4 win over Granite Falls Wednesday.

The Falcons are 11-6 in league play, with one game left to play, and even if CHS swept its final three, the best it could finish would be 10-8 in the Cascade Conference.