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“We continue to make strides!”

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Hardball guru Jon Roberts is in the teaching business. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

“It was a learning day, and that’s OK.”

That was the reaction from Coupeville High School JV baseball coach Jon Roberts Tuesday after his squad rumbled with its big-school rivals to the North.

While the 2B Wolves fell 15-1 to the 3A Wildcats, the field time is invaluable for a group of young guns looking to make some noise in the coming years.

“We continue to work on gaining baseball IQ,” Roberts said.

“With one exception, (8th grader) Jack Farrell, and the varsity guys playing down, we have very raw players who are just now joining the game,” he added.

“We continue to make strides toward making future diamond stars out of all of them!”

The future of Wolf baseball.

Coupeville picked up three hits in the game, with Johnny Porter collecting two base knocks, while Yohannon Sandles ripped a single.

On the mound, Roberts used a mix of players, getting some experience for five different hurlers, including two who hadn’t fired a pitch since last season.

Freshman Camden Glover, who has been making solid inroads on the varsity team, ripped off three strikeouts in two innings of work, then turned the ball over to the bullpen.

Sophomores Landon Roberts and Jack Porter, who play first base and left field for the Wolf varsity, respectively, returned to the mound after a long layoff and put in some solid work.

The duo, who will likely be called on to join the varsity pitching staff next season, after seniors Scott Hilborn and Jonathan Valenzuela graduate, combined to whiff three batters.

Sophomore Marcelo Gebhard and freshman Coop Cooper finished off the day, with Cooper slamming the door shut on the final Wildcat hitter.

Getting the most out of the day, even during spring break, the young Wolves bussed back to Cow Town after the 1:00 PM game and immediately went to join the day’s practice.

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Fab frosh spark diamond rally

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Camden Glover delivered big pitches and big hits to spark a come-from-behind win Saturday. (Photo courtesy Stevie Glover)

The rally caps worked.

Sparked by big plays from freshmen Camden Glover and Coop Cooper, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad roared from behind Saturday, scoring four runs in the final two innings to topple visiting Orcas Island 5-4.

The victory lifts the Wolves to 3-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-3 overall, and gives them sole possession of second place in the seven-team NWL heading into spring break.

Coupeville, which trails just Mount Vernon Christian (5-0) in the race to defend its league crown, returns to action next Saturday, Apr. 8, when it travels to Concrete.

Saturday’s showdown pitted the Wolves against a very-tough Orcas squad, and Mother Nature let the showdown go on, opting not to bust out rain as expected.

The two teams delivered a pitcher’s duel early, with the game knotted at 1-1 after three innings.

Coupeville pushed a run across in the bottom of the second thanks to consecutive singles from Jonathan Valenzuela, Jack Porter, and Glover, while Orcas responded with a run of its own in the top of the third.

That tally was set up by a walk and a pair of Wolf errors, as the hometown hardball squad struggled a bit with its glovework.

Orcas crept ahead with two runs in the fourth, and another in the fifth, with another error and a wild pitch being daggers which pierced the Wolves.

Even down 4-1, CHS wasn’t ready to accept its impending loss, however.

The Wolves manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth, with leadoff hitter Scott Hilborn earning a two-out walk, before stealing second, moving to third on a balk, and scampering home on a passed ball.

That cut the margin to 4-2, and Glover, on in relief to start the sixth, closed the game with two scoreless innings of work on the mound.

After surrendering a single to kick things off, he retired the next three Vikings in a row, setting the stage for the big rally.

The bottom of the sixth was a showcase of steady Wolf nerves, with Valenzuela and Porter nabbing walks, the latter after being plunked by a wayward pitch.

Then came the crunch time base knocks, as Glover and Cooper delivered back-to-back blows which found openings in the defense.

Glover’s single to left sliced the deficit to 4-3, while Cooper’s shot up the middle — with a little help from an Orcas error — plated two runners to give CHS a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

The Vikings didn’t go down easy, drawing two walks in the top of the seventh, but Coupeville’s young hurler wasn’t having it.

Rearing back and throwing heat, Glover got the final two outs of the game on big strikeouts, as he finished with three K’s.

Coupeville’s starting pitcher, Hilborn, rang up seven Vikings across five innings of work, giving the Wolf duo a combined 10 punchouts on the afternoon.

 

Saturday stats:

Chase Anderson — One walk
Coop Cooper — One single
Camden Glover — Two singles
Scott Hilborn — One walk
Jack Porter — One single, one walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — One single, two walks

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Bad inning betrays hardball squad

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on March 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Wolf seniors (l to r) Scott Hilborn, Jonathan Valenzuela, and Piotr Bieda play at home Saturday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Do we have to count every inning?

Take away the bottom of the fifth Thursday, and the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad returns from the road with a win in a first-place battle with Mount Vernon Christian.

Unfortunately, one bad frame — with the Wolves surrendering seven runs to the Hurricanes — was enough to send them to a 12-7 loss.

That drops Coupeville to 2-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-3 overall, while MVC (4-2) gets to 4-0 in conference action.

The Wolves built a 3-0 lead, let it slip away for a moment, then regained the advantage before the frame o’ death proved fatal.

MVC rapped out four hits in the bottom of the fifth, including an RBI double, but also benefited from drawing four walks — with three of those coming with the bases loaded, forcing in a run.

Coupeville also hurt itself in the inning by committing two errors and allowing another run to scamper home on a wild pitch.

The seven-run burst turned a 6-5 Wolf lead into a 12-6 deficit, which proved to be too much to recover from.

Things had looked much brighter in the early going, as starting pitcher Jonathan Valenzuela faced the minimum batters through two innings.

He gave up one walk, but immediately picked the runner off, rifling the ball to first-baseman Landon Roberts to catch the Hurricane straying.

After squandering a Chase Anderson double and a Cole White walk in the top of the first, the Wolves broke through to score a pair in the second, and another run in the third.

Coop Cooper put Coupeville up 2-0 with a two-run single to center, plating Camden Glover (walk) and Jack Porter (single), before Glover came back around to lash an RBI single an inning later.

MVC finally broke Valenzuela’s spell in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs thanks to a mix of walks, Wolf errors, and a well-placed sac fly.

Trailing for the first time, Coupeville responded in the top of the fourth, reclaiming the lead at 6-4 thanks to a bunch of steals and RBI singles from Anderson and White.

The Hurricanes nailed another sac fly to cut things to 6-5, but Glover ended the bottom of the fourth by snuffing out a would-be base thief trying to scramble to third base.

That seemed to set the stage for a back-and-forth battle, befitting the game being a battle for sole possession of first place in the NWL, but the terrible, horrible, no good fifth inning was fast approaching.

Once it fell behind for good, Coupeville put runners aboard in both the sixth and seventh but could only get one guy home.

That was Anderson, who walked, stole second, and lit out for home on a Valenzuela RBI single to center in the sixth.

While the loss stings, the Wolves get a chance to get right back on a win streak Saturday, when they host Orcas Island.

First pitch is at noon.

 

Thursday’s stats:

Chase Anderson — One single, one double, one walk
Coop Cooper — One single, one walk
Camden Glover — One single, one walk
Aiden O’Neill — One walk
Jack Porter — Two singles
Yohannon Sandles — One walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — One single, one walk
Cole White — One single, one walk

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Diamond men claim huge win

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on March 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Fab frosh Chase Anderson, ready to make the magic happen. (Morgan White photo)

“The Magic Man” delivered.

Freshman Chase Anderson, already a grizzled vet in his second season of high school ball, smacked a game-busting RBI single in the top of the sixth inning Tuesday, lifting Coupeville to an important early-season win.

That base knock, and a stellar pitching performance from senior Scott Hilborn, sparked the Wolves to a 3-1 win on Friday Harbor.

With the victory, CHS gets to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-2 overall.

Even more important, those first two conference W’s have come against La Conner and Friday Harbor — the other two 2B schools in the seven-team NWL.

While 1B schools Orcas Island and Mount Vernon Christian look ready to tangle with the 2B schools for the league title, Coupeville’s shot at making the state playoffs solely rests on how it does against schools in its own classification.

The Wolves play both La Conner and Friday Harbor twice more in the regular season, but a 2-0 start bodes well for the future.

Especially after CHS won a true gut-check on the road Tuesday afternoon.

Trailing 1-0 through three innings, the Wolves knotted things at 1-1 in the top of the fourth, thanks to timely hitting and some Friday Harbor miscues.

Anderson dropped a bunt, then flustered the host team badly enough to land on second base during the ensuing error-fest by the Wolverines.

The frosh phenom moved to third base on a Cole White single, only to be picked off the bag.

No worries, however, as Wolf senior Jonathan Valenzuela promptly lashed an RBI single to center, sending White scrambling home with the tying run.

Friday Harbor’s opening tally, which came thanks to an error and an RBI double off the bat of senior Geoffry Volk, was the only time the hosts dinged Coupeville ace Scott Hilborn.

Pitching the way dad (and coach) Steve taught him, the Wolf senior whiffed 10 batters across six innings of work, with most of his K’s coming at clutch moments.

With the game knotted at 1-1, and the younger Hilborn throwing heat, Coupeville surged ahead in the top of the sixth.

The Wolf hurler zipped a one-out single to center, then stole second and third to set the stage for his young teammate.

Anderson’s blow also landed in the middle of the outfield, then Coupeville notched an insurance run thanks to a walk to White and a sac fly from Valenzuela.

Desperate to get back into the game, Friday Harbor pushed hard, getting two runners aboard in the bottom of the sixth, and another in the seventh, and final, frame.

Both times Coupeville pitchers came up huge.

First, Scott Hilborn induced a grounder back to the mound to end the sixth, pivoting and plopping the ball into the waiting glove of Landon Roberts at first base.

Then, in the seventh, Valenzuela came out of the bullpen to slam the door shut, ripping off back-to-back strikeouts to open things.

Friday Harbor slipped a single into a gap, bringing the tying run to the plate, but the Wolverines were denied, their final out of the day a weak grounder to second.

All that left was the celebration, with the Wolves flexing the win all over Instagram.

Coupeville, which has a road game at MVC Thursday and a home clash against Orcas Saturday, got something from everyone in the lineup in the road win.

Jack Porter led the way, pasting a pair of hits, while White collected a base knock and a walk.

Scott Hilborn, Anderson, and Valenzuela had singles, with Coop Cooper, Roberts, Peyton Caveness, Johnny Porter, Aiden O’Neill, and Seth Woollet also seeing field time.

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A hit, a hit, my kingdom for a hit

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on March 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Jonathan Valenzuela drops straight heat. (Morgan White photo)

For one batter, the hit attack was ready to go.

And then it ended.

Unable to get a second hit after leadoff batter Scott Hilborn whacked a first inning single Saturday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad lost a pitcher’s duel, falling 2-1 to visiting Forks.

The non-conference loss drops the Wolves to 3-2 heading into the first of three regular season clashes with Northwest 2B/1B League arch-rival Friday Harbor.

The first meeting between the conference heavyweights goes down this Tuesday, Mar. 28, with Coupeville having to endure a long bus and ferry ride to get to the game.

When they meet the Wolverines, CHS will strive to have its bats beating out a merry tune on the incoming baseball.

That wasn’t the case Saturday, as Forks hurlers Ryan Rancourt and Gunner Rogers combined to throw a one-hitter, making life tough on the Wolves.

Coupeville did eke out six walks, including one batter who was bonked with a wayward pitch, but it couldn’t push across more than one run.

That lone tally came in the bottom of the third, when Hilborn walked, stole second and third, then scrambled home on an error to knot the game at 1-1.

Forks had struck first, pushing across a run thanks to a two-out RBI double from Walker Wheeler in the top of the second inning.

With the game tied at 1-1, the two teams struggled to break free of the tyranny imposed by the pitchers.

While Rancourt and Rogers were on point for Forks, Coupeville got equally strong work from its chuckers — Hilborn and fellow senior Jonathan Valenzuela.

The Wolf duo combined to strike out eight Spartans and held the game close until Forks used a well-timed hit and some alert base-running in the sixth inning to create the game-busting run.

Coupeville put two runners aboard in the fourth, thanks to Cole White and Jack Porter walks, and had the tying run at first in the seventh, represented by freshman Aiden O’Neill.

Both times, however, the Wolves were left wanting, unable to get a hit and prolong the game.

Hilborn finished with his team’s lone base knock, walked twice, and stole four bases, while Chase Anderson, White, Porter, and O’Neill also walked.

Peyton Caveness, Valenzuela, Coop Cooper, Landon Roberts, and Seth Woollet also saw game time for Steve Hilborn’s squad.

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