Ben Etzell (left) and Jake Tumblin are among five Wolf seniors who will depart. (Shelli Trumbull photos)
Junior Aaron Curtin still has a year left to pitch and play third.
So close. So very, very close.
Too many stranded runners came back to bite the Coupeville High School baseball squad in the rear Saturday morning in its state tournament game against Rochester.
Unable to find that one big rally, the Wolves fell 2-1 and saw their season come to a close at 14-11.
After leaving runners at third base in both the first and second innings, Coupeville broke through in the top of the fifth to net its lone run.
Ben Etzell, who had shut Rochester down from the mound, thumped a double and came around to score on a single from Aaron Trumbull.
The Warriors immediately struck back, however, scraping together a run in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth.
The damage in the sixth could have been worse, but Wolf catcher Jake Tumblin gunned down a potential base stealer and Etzell ended the inning on a strike out.
Coupeville had had a chance to reclaim the lead in the top of the sixth, loading the bases.
Josh Bayne reached on an error, Korbin Korzan beat out a bunt and Tumblin walked, but Rochester escaped when it got Kurtis Smith on a blooper for the third out.
In the seventh, with its season hanging in the balance, CHS went one-two-three.
Even though they didn’t reach their goal of traveling to Yakima for the Final Four, the Wolves had the most successful season in the four-year run of seniors Etzell, Tumblin, Smith, Wade Schaef and Morgan Payne.
“These boys had an amazing run, and an incredible journey from four years ago to today,” said Coupeville coach Willie Smith. “It is quite a special bunch with a lot of great personalities and huge hearts!”
Coupeville went 4-2 in the playoffs, finishing second at districts and third at tri-districts.
After playing mostly 2A competition in their final swing through the Cascade Conference, they finished 6-3 against fellow 1A teams.
Coupeville Sports 
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