Coupeville Sports

   Ben Etzell is congratulated by coach Willie Smith and catcher Jake Tumblin during his CHS days. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Etzell delivers the high, hard cheese. (Libby Auger photo)

Icing the arm after his first complete game win. (Photo courtesy Ben Etzell)

Wisconsin may be on Central time, but Friday morning they called it Etzell time.

Powered by a complete game from starting pitcher Ben Etzell, the Saint John’s University baseball squad drilled North Central College 8-2 to set a school single-season record for wins and stay alive in the NCAA D-III playoffs.

With their second win in three NCAA tourney games, the Johnnies improved to 30-13 and advance to play again Friday night.

Saint John’s, which is playing in the La Crosse regional, beat St. Scholastica 7-2 Wednesday, then fell 10-0 to Wisconsin-La Crosse, the defending D-III runner-ups, Thursday.

Friday morning, playing in an elimination game, the Johnnies put Etzell, a Coupeville High School grad, on the hill, and he responded with the first complete game of his collegiate career.

Scattering nine hits, he whiffed five and was rarely in danger as he improved to 4-1 on the season.

The 30th win broke a tie with the 1994 and 2012 squads, which had each won 29 games.

Etzell is a sophomore at the Minnesota-based college, and is following in the footsteps of dad Mike, who is an alumnus.

During his time at CHS, the young gun was the Cascade Conference MVP as a senior.

He was the only Wolf to win that honor in any sport during Coupeville’s decade-plus run in the private school-dominated 1A/2A league.