Aaron Trumbull delivered the first RBI Tuesday, kicking off a 6-1 CHS win. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
Wade Schaef was on fire, collecting three hits, including two doubles. (Chris Chan photo)
Ben Etzell was “downright nasty” Tuesday.
And that’s just the way his coaches like to see him pitch, as the senior hurler carried the Coupeville High School baseball squad to a 6-1 win at Meridian to open the 1A District 1 playoffs.
With Etzell whiffing nine and scattering three measly hits, and his offense stepping up and giving him some run support for once, the Wolves moved one win away from advancing to tri-districts.
Coupeville, now 11-9 on the season, faces Lynden Christian in a district semifinal Thursday at Pipeline Fields in Blaine.
Win that and they advance to the district final Saturday, May 10 and are guaranteed a spot at tri-districts.
They will play one way or the other Saturday, as the tournament is double elimination.
Joining them in the semifinals is Cascade Conference mate South Whidbey, which drilled Blaine 10-0 as Colton Sterba and Charlie Patterson combined to throw a five-inning perfect game.
The Falcons play Friday Harbor in the other semifinal.
While Etzell wasn’t perfect, he was fairly close.
“Ben really dominated,” said Coupeville coach Willie Smith. “He really had them baffled, mixing up his fastball and off-speed stuff very effectively.
“In the words of the Chris’s: (CHS coaches) Chan and Tumblin, he was downright nasty at times,” he added.
When Meridian did get runners on base, Etzell often made short work of them, picking off a straying Trojan base-runner to slam the door shut in the second inning.
While Etzell has generally been lights-out all season, the Wolves haven’t always given him runs to work with, resulting in a number of 1-0 games.
Tuesday that was never an issue.
Fellow senior Kurtis Smith crunched a shot to deep right for a double to kick-start things in the first, then came around to score when Aaron Trumbull lashed a line drive back up the middle.
Coupeville tacked on a pair of runs, small-ball style, in the third.
Wade Schaef reached on an error, Jake Tumblin beat out a bunt, then the duo pulled off a double steal with Schaef beating the throw home. Etzell then helped himself, scoring Tumblin on a sac fly.
Up 3-1 entering the seventh, the Wolves went for some insurance runs, this time via the big hit.
Schaef doubled to left center, followed by Tumblin missing a two-run home run by a whisker.
The Wolf catcher walloped the ball 355+ feet, dinging it off the top of the wall in left center to plate Schaef.
Etzell brought Tumblin around with his second RBI of the afternoon, before Josh Bayne brought the scoring to a close with a sac fly.
Proving they had the gloves to go with the booming bats and heat-throwing arm, CHS opened the bottom of the seventh with a web gem from sophomore CJ Smith.
He went to his backhand to knock the ball into the dirt, then came up throwing and nailed the runner a step from the bag.
After losing a one-run heart-breaker at home to open the playoffs last season, Willie Smith was thrilled to kick off the postseason run with a bang this time around.
“It was a great team win and huge win for us,” he said. “Great defense, pitching and offense all around.
“A win for the good guys, which is us, of course!”
Coupeville Sports 