Nick Etzell crunched a double Wednesday as Coupeville blew out Klahowya 13-3. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Wolf senior Julian Welling, who was hit by three different KSS pitchers in the game, shows off his war wounds. (Photo courtesy Jacob Zettle)
Everything was clicking.
Pitching, hitting, defense, intangibles — they were all on point for the Coupeville High School baseball squad Wednesday at it battered host Klahowya 13-3.
The win lifts the Wolves to 1-0 in Olympic League play and into a first-place tie with Chimacum (1-0).
Defending league champ Klahowya (1-2) and Port Townsend (0-1), which visits Whidbey Friday, hold down the bottom two slots at the moment.
The Wolves, who are 4-3 overall, jumped on the Eagles early and never let up, scoring in six of seven innings.
That gave starting pitcher Hunter Smith plenty of room in which to operate, and the senior ace responded with his third win in as many starts.
He scattered two hits (matching the total he himself racked up while hitting) and struck out five while going the distance.
Coupeville jumped out to a 7-0 lead, plating two in the top of the first, then rocking Klahowya pitching for five more in the second.
Matt Hilborn kick-started things with a lead-off single, then the Wolves juiced the bases thanks to Smith and Julian Welling’s willingness to be plunked.
While Coupeville’s lead runner was forced at home on a fielder’s choice, the Wolves broke through with an RBI single off the bat of Jake Hoagland and a bases-loaded free pass eked out by Kyle Rockwell.
With Klahowya’s pitcher unable to find the strike zone, CHS packaged five walks (including Hilborn wearing a pitch), a Nick Etzell double and singles from Joey Lippo and Jake Pease to bust things open in the second.
KSS shaved two runs off the lead in their half of the second, but continued to hand out walks like sweet, sweet candy, allowing Coupeville to stretch the margin back to 9-3 by the end of five innings.
Of course, “sweet, sweet candy” might be stretching it a bit, when Klahowya lobbed pitches off of the body parts of Wolf batters SEVEN times in one game.
Welling was their favorite target, getting nailed by THREE different Eagle pitchers.
One of the few times they didn’t hit him was the sixth inning, when Welling sent Smith home with an RBI ground-out, right after the Wolf hurler whacked a two-run triple.
Apparently wanting to play a full seven innings, the Wolves didn’t hit a 10-run lead until they notched a final tally in the top of the seventh, too late to kick in the mercy rule.
Still, it mattered very little, as Smith closed the game with one final punch-out from the mound and Coupeville exited Silverdale with a victory that was assured, very-balanced and fairly definitive.
The Wolves finished with 10 base-knocks, with Smith, Lippo and Hilborn leading the way with two apiece.
Pease, Hoagland, Dane Lucero and Etzell rounded out the attack, each collecting a hit.
Coupeville Sports 