CHS baseball coach Chris Smith poses with some of the Wolf seniors who played Thursday at the All-State feeder games in Bellingham. L to r are Matt Hilborn, Shane Losey, and Dane Lucero, while Jake Pease was AWOL at the moment. (Wendi Hilborn photo)
Coupeville’s diamond men got one more night under the lights.
Four Wolf seniors — Dane Lucero, Shane Losey, Jake Pease, and Matt Hilborn — traveled to Bellingham Thursday to participate in the A/B All-State Baseball Feeder games.
While none of the pack made the cut for the big games, held June 8-9 in Yakima, Coupeville made a positive impression.
“They all played really well,” said CHS head baseball coach Chris Smith, who was in the stands at Joe Martin Stadium for the games. “Coupeville was well represented.”
After playing their entire prep careers as teammates, the four Wolves found themselves split up at times Thursday night.
In the opening game, the Nationals, which featured Lucero, Losey, and Hilborn topped Pease’s Americans squad 14-13 in a slug-fest.
Pease anchored third base for the entire game.
“He didn’t have a ton of opportunities, but did make some diving attempts at a couple smoked grounders,” said CHS assistant coach Aaron Lucero.
Hilborn got some work on the mound in the first game, tossing two innings, then moved to shortstop in the nightcap, where the Americans won 7-1 in a game called after six innings due to pitch counts.
“He was lights out at shortstop and had several outs to Dane at first,” Aaron Lucero said. “Lot of tough balls and threw lasers.”
Dane Lucero, who made a sensational full-body extension grab on a hard liner just inside the line at first, also pulled double duty.
After getting loosened up with his work on the bag, where he put in eight innings across the two games, the younger Lucero strolled over to pitch the fifth inning in game two.
Making sure every Wolf had some highlights, Losey was a beast in the outfield.
“Shane almost had a ridiculous awesome diving play in right that just missed by an inch or two,” Aaron Lucero said. “Was ecstatic he got to the ball, not to mention the dive.
“Next hitter hit another shot to right that Shane sprinted to, twisted, hit the ball with his glove, ball popped, and he caught the pop one-handed,” he added.
“The best part was his back was turned to the line ump, ump indicating fair and safe until Shane shows the ball with his back turned for the ump to reverse to an out.”
