Coupeville Sports

   Jake Hoagland ripped a pair of RBI doubles Thursday as Coupeville baseball lashed La Conner 14-2. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

They found a groove, and stayed in it all afternoon.

Poking 14 hits in just five innings Thursday, spread out among eight hitters, the Coupeville High School baseball team was unstoppable.

By the time the Wolf diamond men were back on the bus and headed to Arby’s for post-game roast beef, all host La Conner could do was turn off the scoreboard and try to ignore the 14-2 shellacking it had just endured.

The win, the fifth in the last six games for Coupeville, lifts it to 8-4 on the season.

After that non-conference tune-up, CHS gets right back at it Friday, hosting Klahowya (4 PM) in an Olympic League clash.

Win that one, and the Wolves would rise to 3-1 in conference action and stay a game back of Chimacum in the race for a league title.

Thursday, Coupeville came off the bus on fire and never let up.

The Wolves plated three in the first, using a Joey Lippo single and doubles from Dane Lucero and Jake Hoagland to ruffle the Braves hurler.

Hunter Smith (an RBI ground-out) and Julian Welling (a sac fly) knocked in the game’s first two runs, before Hoagland delivered the early KO with his two-bagger.

With Lucero cruising on the mound, the Wolves eventually stretched the lead all the way out to 10-0, with three more runners coming around in the second and four tapping home in the top of the third.

In the second, Lippo delivered a two-run double that sent Kyle Rockwell and Matt Hilborn scampering home, then the senior outfielder capped things by scoring on a La Conner error.

The Braves went to a new pitcher in the third, but the blood bath continued unabated.

Coupeville juiced the bags on a Hoagland walk and back-to-back singles from Jake Pease and Rockwell, then started unloading the bases quickly.

Nick Etzell ripped a two-run single, before the nuclear-hot Lippo delivered another RBI base-knock.

A final run scooted home on a ground-out off of Smith’s bat and the specter of the game being halted early thanks to the mercy rule reared its head for the first time.

Giving their fans a brief glimmer of hope, the Braves finally punched in a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, then held CHS scoreless for the first time in the top of the fourth.

The brief glimmer was firmly stamped out, however, as Coupeville rammed home another four runs in the fifth to effectively ice the game.

The Wolves did all their damage after starting off the inning with two outs and no one on base.

Lippo (yes, him again) singled, Smith was plunked by a wayward pitch, then Welling, the human RBI machine, brought both of his teammates home with a two-run single.

It didn’t stop there, with Lucero’s single driving home Welling and Hoagland’s second double of the afternoon plating pinch-runner Shane Losey.

Coupeville spread out its offense, with Lippo delivering a team-best four hits.

Hoagland (2B, 2B), Lucero (1B, 2B) and Rockwell (1B, 1B) chipped in with two base-knocks apiece, while Smith, Etzell, Welling and Pease all had a hit.

The only two Wolf hitters not to get a hit still reached base, as Hilborn and Jacob Zettle combined to walk three times.