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Wolf frosh dazzles Redhawks!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Aaron Curtin, Aaron Trumbull, baseball, CHS Wolves, Hunter Smith on May 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wolf freshman Hunter Smith tossed five solid innings on the mound and crunched a two-run double in a 12-2 win at Port Townsend. (John Fisken photos)

Aaron Trumbull had another big day, knocking in four runs with his quick bat.

The other Smith brother can fling a fastball, too.

A game after Coupeville High School junior CJ Smith was superb on the mound against Klahowya, younger brother Hunter took the ball Friday and shut down Port Townsend.

The Wolf freshman struck out seven over five innings, while not surrendering an earned run, as CHS rolled to a 12-2 victory.

The win gave the Wolves a three-game season sweep of the Redhawks and lifted them to 4-3 in the Olympic League, 8-8 overall.

Coupeville closes the regular season with a home game against Chimacum Tuesday and a road game at Klahowya Thursday.

Win one of those games and the Wolves clinch the #2 seed in the league and a home playoff game May 9.

Playing a Port Townsend squad mired in last place, Coupeville went out and did exactly what they needed to do — step on a team and step on them hard.

The Wolves rediscovered their hitting mojo and put good aluminum on the ball all day.

“I was pretty excited about how we got our runs,” said Wolf coach Willie Smith. “We got 11 hits on the day and I would say that the majority of our outs were all well-hit balls that were either line drives, deep drives, or hard grounders.”

With the Redhawks playing solid defense, Coupeville responded by running the bases aggressively and pushing for runs.

After chipping away with a run in the first (Carson Risner knocked in Cole Payne, who had singled and stole second) and another in the second (Aaron Trumbull walked, stole second and scored on an error), the Wolves exploded in the third.

Raining down seven runs in the inning, CHS batted around, with Aaron Curtin starting the inning with a walk and closing the offensive attack nine batters later with an RBI on a sac fly.

In between his plate appearances, the Wolves got a two-run double from Hunter Smith, RBI singles from Trumbull and Julian Welling and a two-run single from Josh Bayne.

“It was nice to see us actually produce runs through solid hits rather than rolling over on grounders and allowing the other team to make errors to get our runs,” Willie Smith said.

Port Townsend scratched out two runs in the fourth, using a walk, Coupeville’s lone error and a two-run triple to get a rally briefly started.

But, as soon as the damage began, Hunter Smith snuffed the fire right back out, striking out the next Redhawk to strand the runner at third.

Determined to catch the earliest ferry back to the Island, the Wolves banged home three more in the fifth to put the game on ice.

Cameron Toomey-Stout walked and stole second, Gabe Wynn singled and stole second (a recurring theme on the day), then Hunter Smith walked to juice the bags for Trumbull.

Swinging a wicked hot bat all afternoon, the senior promptly lashed a shot to right center to bring home all of his younger teammates, capping a four-RBI day.

Coupeville spread out its offense, with every player who drew an at-bat reaching base via hit or walk.

“I was very happy with our approach at the plate,” Willie Smith said.

The hardball guru was also quite pleased with his young hurler and how he handled the in-game pressures.

“Defensively, it was a lot of Hunter; he did a great job of locating his fastball and keeping them off balance with a solid curve.”

“He got two sliding catches in left field from Aaron Curtin, but I’m pretty sure he was just showboating!,” he said with a laugh.

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Winnin’ in the wind!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged Aaron Trumbull, baseball, CHS Wolves, Clay Reilly, John Fisken photos, storm on April 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wolf assistant coach Mike Etzell braces against the wind, dreaming of warmer climates. (John Fisken photos)

Clay Reilly comes in hot with one of his three stolen bases on the day.

Aaron Trumbull gets locked ‘n loaded.

Carson Risner (left) implores Josh Bayne to get down with his bad self.

Cole Payne makes sure mom Joan will have some dirt to clean off his pants.

Risner runs the show from behind home plate.

Aaron Curtin brought the heat, whiffing 15 La Conner batters.

Gabe Wynn and CHS baseball guru Willie Smith chat. "I'm saying, there's a place somewhere that's warm and you can swim in hot chocolate. I want to go to there. Get this game done, son!"

Gabe Wynn and CHS baseball guru Willie Smith chat. “I’m saying, there’s gotta be a place somewhere that’s warm and you can swim in hot chocolate. I want to go to there. Get this game done, son!”

It was not the springiest of spring days.

But even as the prairie was lashed by a ferocious wind storm Friday, the CHS baseball squad played on and travelin’ photo man John Fisken clicked away to capture the on-field activity.

The photos above are courtesy him, and you can see more (purchases help fund scholarships for senior student/athletes) by popping over to:

http://www.nw1a2bathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=8466&league=5&page=1&page_name=photo_store&school=46&sport=0

Use the coupon code EB84664962 when you buy (before April 24) and you’ll get a crisp 15% discount.

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You can go home again (just can’t win)!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged Aaron Trumbull, baseball, CHS Wolves, Sequim, Willie Smith on March 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Kyle Bodamer contemplates whether the umpire might be blind. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

They call Nick Etzell The Vacuum, because he sucks up every baseball hit anywhere near him.

Willie Smith went home and a pitcher’s duel broke out.

The CHS baseball guru took his current team back to Sequim Wednesday, the town he starred in back in his high school days, only to see his old-school Wolves edge his current pack of diamond men 3-0.

The non-conference loss dropped Coupeville to 1-2 on the season.

While CHS suffered its second straight shutout, the Wolves had their shots and hurler Aaron Trumbull did his best to limit the damage coming from the hosts.

All three runs were unearned, the kind of thing that can gnaw at the soul of a coach.

“We are just not making routine fundamental plays and it’s biting us in the hind end,” Smith said.

“Trumbull threw really well for us, keeping them off balance with a mix of off-speed and fastballs, but his defense didn’t do much to help him out,” he added. “Dropped pick-offs, overthrows, a dropped fly ball and failed executions on our first and third defense, led to all three of their runs.

“Other than that, we had a good defensive game!”

Coupeville had several chances to bring runners around, but failed each time.

Aaron Curtin launched a long drive to right in the first, only to see the man ahead of him, CJ Smith, thrown out at the plate.

Later, Josh Bayne singled, stole second and third, and then slowly wilted as the batters behind him finished out the inning with a strikeout and popup.

Things reached the height of disappointment with two blown plays in the late innings.

Kyle Bodamer beat out an infield single, then Cole Payne crushed a double in the fifth to put runners at second and third with one out.

Smith called for a double squeeze, only to have his batter miss the sign, cause a runner to get tagged out, then strike out to end the inning.

The final capper came in the sixth when Bayne smacked a grounder between short and third, only to have the Wolf runner at second make a base-running blunder.

“Our runner decided to run right at him, resulting in an out and a discussion with me on basic running fundamentals,” Smith said.

Still, while the frustrations mounted as the game wore on, the ol’ ball coach could walk away with hope for the remainder of the season.

“The good news is that the mistakes we are making are the result of not focusing and executing things we work on every day, so we can fix those,” Smith said. “Just like I thought, we are getting strong pitching but we need to play solid, fundamental defense and that is, right now, a work in progress, but we will get there and put it all together.”

JV makes its debut:

Coupeville’s young guns got their first action of the season, falling 9-2.

Wolf hurlers Jonathan Thurston and Josh Poole “both threw strikes and there was moments of good defense.”

Joey Lippo and Nick Etzell combined on a nice play up the middle to thwart a Sequim rally, while Cameron Toomey-Stout knocked in Gabe Wynn with the team’s first run.

Poole put in a one-man effort to notch the second run, stealing second and then coming around to score on a passed ball.

“It was good to see them in action and a lot of different players getting to make their high school baseball debut,” Smith said.

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84 miles, no hits!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged Aaron Curtin, Aaron Trumbull, baseball, Blaine, CHS Wolves, Julian Welling, no-hitter on March 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Aaron Curtin, seen here last year, delivered a stellar performance on Opening Day. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Opening Day played out fairly close to perfection.

With hurlers Aaron Curtin and Aaron Trumbull combining to toss a no-hitter and just about everyone in the lineup coming up with at least one big hit, the Coupeville High School baseball squad thrashed visiting Blaine 10-0 Saturday.

The non-conference win, called after six innings, even played out under fairly balmy weather conditions, with just a hint of wind and even some sun.

The Wolves jumped on Blaine for a run in the bottom of the first, and it turned out to be all they would need.

Josh Bayne led off with a hard-hit single back up the middle — one of his three hits on the afternoon — went to second on a passed ball, then scampered home on a single to right off of Curtin’s bat.

The Wolf senior, moving up to become the team’s #1 hurler with the graduation of Cascade Conference MVP Ben Etzell, was on his game in all aspects.

After giving himself the lead, Curtin struck out three over four innings.

When he wasn’t making the Borderites miss, he allowed his defense to step into the spotlight and they responded, with three stellar plays in consecutive innings.

Trumbull pulled off an unassisted double play at first, snagging a liner and doubling a Blaine player who had walked off the bag.

An inning later, Wolf catcher Cole Payne came up firing and picked off another straying runner, his double-clutched throw dropping into Trumbull’s mitt a heartbeat before the Blaine runner hit the bag.

Not to be outdone, freshman third baseman Julian Welling closed out the fourth inning with a rough-and-tumble play that could have blown up in his face, but didn’t.

Snagging a ball chopped towards his face, he spun towards third and fell down. Without missing a beat, Welling launched himself toward the bag, coming up off of his knees and slapping his glove on the base for the inning-ending out.

With the buzz from that play still filling the dugout, Coupeville finally broke things open with a four-run bottom of the fourth.

Curtin struck again, launching an RBI double, then Kyle Bodamer cranked a moon shot to right that fell in for a two-run double.

Having tacked on one more run on a throwing error, the Wolves handed their 5-0 lead to Trumbull and he struck out four batters over the next two innings.

Blaine got a couple of walks and an error to load the bags in the fifth, but their best shot at a hit fell two feet foul in front of the left field fence and Trumbull danced away unharmed.

With the sun finally vanishing in the sixth, Coupeville wrapped things up with a five-run rally to push the game to the ten-run mercy rule.

A Payne single and back-to-back walks by pinch hitters Jonathan Thurston and Jake Hoagland juiced the bags with just one out.

After that, it was the hit parade, as three straight Wolves punched hits to cap the game.

Hunter Smith dropped a beautiful blooper into the rough grass of the infield for a picture-perfect infield single, forcing home one run.

Then Bayne and CJ Smith whacked back-to-back two-run singles to chase the Borderites back to the bus.

Not bad for a team that featured three freshmen (Welling, Hoagland and Hunter Smith) and two sophomores (Thurston, Clay Reilly).

“I was really pleased with the whole lineup, all 11 that played,” said CHS coach Willie Smith. “They all had really good appearances at the plate, top to bottom.”

Coupeville will go for a second win when it hosts former league rival Sultan Monday. First pitch is 4 PM.

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“I’m pretty excited every time we take the mound!!”

Posted in Baseball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Aaron Curtin, Aaron Trumbull, baseball, CHS Wolves, Willie Smith on March 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Senior Aaron Curtin leads a strong pack of returning Wolf hurlers. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Sophomore Clay Reilly (white pants) is a favorite to win a starting outfield job. (John Fisken photo)

Heading off into the great unknown.

That’s where the Coupeville High School baseball team finds itself as it enters a year of transition.

The Wolves, coming off a trip to the state tourney in 2014, lost six starters, including the Cascade Conference MVP in Ben Etzell, and are opening play in a new league.

But, even with the loss of so many starters (catcher Jake Tumblin, shortstop Morgan Payne and the entire outfield — Wade Schaef, Korbin Korzan and Kurtis Smith — also departed), this is not a team bereft of talent.

Far from it.

With a solid core of players led by several seniors who played on Central Whidbey’s state champion team back in their little league days, the Wolves are actually fairly set at most positions.

“We have great leadership with our seniors,” said CHS coach Willie Smith. “They’ve been through the rigors of playing at a high level and against strong competition and I’m counting on that experience to help the younger guys to quickly acclimate their games.”

While Etzell’s presence on the pitching mound will be missed, Coupeville brings back three top-level hurlers in seniors Aaron Curtin and Aaron Trumbull and junior CJ Smith.

“With three returning starting pitchers, I’m pretty excited every time we take the mound,” Willie Smith said. “Curtin could be a dominant pitcher and Trumbull and CJ are very good as a two and three pitcher.”

When they’re not on the mound, the trio will join senior shortstop Josh Bayne in anchoring the infield.

Trumbull plays first, CJ Smith second and Curtin holds down third when not pitching.

Junior Cole Payne, who saw time behind the plate last season, slides in to replace Tumblin at catcher, while senior Kyle Bodamer and sophomore Clay Reilly are early favorites to nab two of the outfield slots.

Freshman Hunter Smith is also in play, both as a pitcher and outfielder.

Regardless of how the lineup breaks down, or whether it stays the same from game to game, Coupeville should have an ability to score.

“The top of our hitting order should be very solid and I feel like we have good team speed,” Willie Smith said. “We aren’t going to be big boppers, but if our veteran guys can be consistent in their approaches and hit the ball like they’re capable of, we should be able to produce some runs.”

Along with players coming and going, the biggest change for the Wolves is the jump from the 2A/1A Cascade Conference to the 1A Olympic League.

Coupeville’s league games will drop from 18 to 9 (three apiece against Port Townsend, Klahowya and Chimacum) under the new set-up, but that also gives the Wolves a chance to play a very competitive non-league schedule.

Having shed 15 games against 2A schools, the new schedule will give CHS a chance to be battle-tested against fellow 1A schools come postseason play.

“My goals are very similar to last year: we want to get in the playoffs, get to the state tourney and win some games there,” Willie Smith said. “As successful as we were last year, the last game still stings for me and the boys are feeling confident in their ability to get back and move along further.

“Klahowya has a very strong team returning (all nine starters back) from a team that lost in the first round of the 2A regionals, so they will be a strong test for us to see where we’re at,” he added. “I’m not really concerned/worried about the Oly League; it’s where I started, where I grew up, and so I’m pretty familiar with the schools.”

Ultimately, everything comes down not to who they play, but what the Wolf players do themselves. That’s always been a big part of the Wolf baseball guru’s message since the day he took the job.

“We did lose a lot from last year, but we also built a strong foundation for our program and there is a strong core returning from last year,” he said. “We will have to stay injury free and our young guys will need to step up; but, unlike past years when we’ve lost such a strong group, our young guys won’t need to carry the team, they will just need to compliment our team and stay within themselves.

“The other positive for us is that a lot of these guys have had success in other sports this year and that confidence should help us through some tough spots,” Willie Smith added. “I’ve been very impressed with the work ethic and hustle of our kids so far.

“The older guys are doing an amazing job with the young guys, coaching and encouraging them and the young guys have been very receptive. It’s a very positive, energetic group that likes to have fun and has also been willing to put in the time to really work to improve.”

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