Coupeville Sports

Jordan Wilcox is joined by his fan club — brother Kyle, dad Mark and mom Mindy.

Nine outs from a spot in the national semifinals, the Western Washington University baseball team hit a snag.

Blowing a four-run lead in the seventh Sunday, the Vikings fell 6-5 to James Madison in 10 innings.

While the loss didn’t knock former Coupeville High School star Jordan Wilcox and Co. out of the National Club Baseball Association Division 1 World Series, it did make their trip a little tougher.

Western, seeded seventh in the eight-team field, will face third-seeded Iowa in a loser-out game Monday in Tampa. Win that one and they live on to play fourth-seeded Penn State, which joins James Madison as the only currently unbeaten squads in the double-elimination tourney.

Second-seed Illinois, which lost to Western in the opener, and fifth-seed California, have been knocked out, so the Vikings have already beaten their initial seeding.

Against James Madison, the Vikings shot out to a 5-1 lead before surrendering a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh. The Dukes won the game on a sac fly in the bottom of the tenth.

Wilcox, a baseball and basketball standout at CHS, continued his strong play.

He whacked an RBI single (his third RBI in two games at the World Series) and eked out a walk, leaving his series average at .375.

In the field, Wilcox chipped in with two assists and five putouts while playing second base.

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Jordan Wilcox and mom Mindy.

The smallest school in the field is a step closer to winning a national title.

Sparked by Coupeville High School grad Jordan Wilcox, the Western Washington University baseball team erupted for a nine-run eighth inning Friday in Tampa, shocking second-seeded Illinois 14-6 in its opening game at the National Club Baseball Association Division 1 World Series.

The Vikings will now play Sunday afternoon against James Madison, which toppled third-seeded Iowa.

The tourney is a complicated double-elimination format, but the easiest way to break things down would be for WWU to win three straight from here out and give Wilcox and Co. a title.

The former Wolf, who starts at second base for the Vikings, banged out two hits, knocked in two runs, scored twice, stole a base and had three assists in the field Friday.

Western crunched 17 hits in an offensive-happy game.

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Jordan Wilcox (right) celebrates his team’s championship. (Brady Manz photo)

Jordan Wilcox is going to the World Series.

The Coupeville High School grad is pounding the ball for a Western Washington University baseball squad that just claimed one of eight spots at the National Club Baseball World Series in Tampa May 24-30.

The Vikings are the Northern Pacific Regional champs and will face Illinois in the opening game of the double-elimination tourney. Western is seeded seventh, behind Texas A & M, Illinois, Iowa, Penn State, California and James Madison and ahead of Florida.

With Western offering a limited amount of “sanctioned” sports, students fill in the gaps by creating and running their own programs for sports not offered by the university.

Many of those club teams are among the most successful the school is affiliated with, from baseball to rugby and mens’ hockey, which has won multiple national titles.

Wilcox, who was a basketball and baseball star during his time in the red and black at CHS, has anchored the Vikings in the infield, while putting up nice numbers at the plate.

The most recent stats I can find show him smacking the ball to a .383 clip (18 for 47) at the plate through 15 games, with two home runs, 13 RBI, 10 runs scored and four stolen bases.

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