Coupeville Sports

   Chris Smith is 2-0 in Olympic League play since assuming Coupeville’s head coaching position at the end of March. (John Fisken photo)

Mariano Rivera reborn.

Sophomore slinger Matt Hilborn has become Coupeville’s closer this season, and his biggest door slam arrived Wednesday afternoon.

Sliding over from third base to replace Dane Lucero on the hill midway through the seventh inning, Hilborn closed out Chimacum, stranding the potential game-tying run to seal a big-time 4-3 win for the Wolves.

The victory snaps a two-game skid for CHS, and, more importantly, came in a league game.

Now 2-1 in Olympic League play, 6-5 overall, the Wolves sit a half game off of Klahowya (2-0, 3-3) as they try and defend their league crown.

Chimacum (1-2, 3-3) slips into third place, while Port Townsend (0-2, 0-4) occupies the cellar.

Coupeville wraps up its non-conference schedule with three games in the next week, then makes its playoff push Apr. 21-May 3.

Over that period, the Wolves will play each of its league foes twice, with four of six on the road.

If Coupeville shows the same resilience down the stretch it did Wednesday, things could work out nicely.

The Wolves battled back from an early two-run deficit, then, once they had the lead, never relinquished it.

“Good close game,” said CHS coach Chris Smith. “Chimacum played us tough, like they always do.”

Things got interesting in the top of the seventh, though, as the Cowboys led off with back-to-back singles and plated a runner to slice the deficit to a single run.

Hilborn was having none of that, though, and he closed the game out with a bang, with Wolf first-baseman Kory Score getting the game’s final out.

Chimacum had scraped together two runs in the top of the first to take an early lead, and Coupeville remained scoreless until the fourth.

The Wolves finally got on the board when Clay Reilly singled and eventually came around to score on a passed ball.

With Lucero tossing goose eggs after the first, CHS hit its stride in the fifth, plating three to retake the lead at 4-2.

Taylor Consford, the master of the three-bagger this season, led off the inning with a resounding triple and that seemed to crack Chimacum’s calm exterior.

The tying run crossed home as Ethan Marx reached first on an error, then the Wolves went to work.

Marx pilfered two bags, scored on an RBI ground-out by Hilborn, then watched as Hunter Smith went about things in almost mirror-like fashion.

This time it was a single, then two steals from the ultra-speedy junior, before Joey Lippo brought Smith home on a sac fly.

Coupeville rapped out six hits on the day, with Reilly and Smith leading the way with a pair of singles apiece.

Hilborn added a single, while Consford ruled the afternoon with his extra-base knock.