Leo Rodriguez hauls in a pop fly. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
It’s been like two seasons in one.
A rebuilding Coupeville High School baseball squad struggled in the early going but has found its groove of late.
Sweeping a home doubleheader against Concrete Tuesday, winning 12-1 and 9-1 over the visiting Lions, the Wolves have now won five of their last six.
CHS sits at 5-3 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 5-7 overall, with another home twin bill on the schedule for Saturday afternoon.
That tilt will be against non-conference foe Forks, with games set for 2:00 and 4:00 PM.
Steve Hilborn’s hardball squad had trouble finding a consistent offensive spark while losing its first six games.
Now, the Wolves are living large on the basepaths, racking up 22 hits and 13 walks against Concrete.
How the day played out:
Game 1:
Freshman Carson Grove was dealing on the mound, whiffing eight and surrendering just two hits across five innings of work.
Looking to give their young gun some room to rumble, the Wolves pushed runs across in all four innings in which they hit, before the game was mercy-ruled after Concrete went down in the top of the fifth.
Coupeville netted three runs in the bottom half of the first, with Camden Glover launching what would be a blistering performance at the plate.
The junior slugger drilled a two-run single to center field to get things going, then came around to score on a passed ball.
From there, the Wolves added four tallies in the second, two in the third, and three more in the fourth.
Glover, Riley Lawless, and Trent Thule each delivered RBI singles, before CHS mixed things up by garnering three straight runs on RBI groundouts.
With its runners operating with precision, Coupeville forced Concrete to take the sure out at first each time, with Grove, Jesus Madrigal, and Landon Roberts bringing their teammates around to score.
While the offense was poppin’ and the pitching was on point, the defense was superb as well.
Wolf catcher Jayden Little nailed a runner trying to score, pegging the ball to Grove, who applied the tag to the umpire’s liking on one wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am play.
Riley Lawless awaits the throw.
Game 2:
While Coupeville steadily pulled away in the opener, the Wolves spent much of the nightcap with a lot less breathing room.
CHS did plate three runners in the top of the first — they were the “road” team for game #2 — with Glover picking up the fifth of his six RBIs on the day.
But from there, the teams played scoreless ball all the way until Concrete scraped out a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 3-1.
That would be as close as the Lions would get, however, as Wolf hurlers Coop Cooper and Glover combined to strike out 19 batters while throwing a no-hitter.
Coupeville tossed three runs on the board in the sixth to stretch the margin out to 6-1, before adding three more in the seventh to set the final score.
Little and Cooper delivered the big hits during the late run, both cracking run-scoring doubles, while Glover’s bat continued to blaze like it had been crafted by the devil himself.
Where the Wolves sit:
With the sweep, Coupeville (5-3) stays just two games back of first-place Mount Vernon (7-1) in the NWL standings, with four conference games left.
The Wolves close the season May 6 and 8 with games against those Hurricanes.
Camden Glover delivered an explosive performance Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday stats:
Coop Cooper — Two singles, two doubles, one walk
Camden Glover — Six singles, one walk
Carson Grove — One single, two walks
Riley Lawless — Two singles, three walks
Jayden Little — One single, one double, two walks
Jesus Madrigal — One walk
Landon Roberts — Four singles, one triple
Trent Thule — One single, three walks
Chris Zenz — One single
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