Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘baseball’

Etzell exits with perfecto!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on May 14, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Coupeville grad Ben Etzell (3) pitched in 50 games as a college hurler. (Libby Auger photo)

Ben Etzell’s college baseball career ended a few days earlier than expected.

The Coupeville grad and his Saint John’s University teammates were unexpectedly snubbed Sunday night by the committee picking the 58-team field for the NCAA D-III tournament.

While the Johnnies fell in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postseason tourney to Bethel, which kept them from nabbing an automatic bid, they were expected to get an at-large spot.

Saint John’s piled up a school-record number of wins this season, going 33-8.

Five of those losses were by just a single run, and the Johnnies overcame terrible Minnesota weather which compressed their schedule, forcing them to play multiple doubleheaders in the final two weeks.

SJU rallied, winning the regular season MIAC title by two games over Bethel, its 14th overall and first outright title since 1994.

The Johnnies then split four games at the postseason tourney, with Etzell’s final performance being three innings of no-hit ball against Bethel May 12.

It was his 50th appearance as a college hurler.

Etzell finished his senior season with a 2-2 record, notching a save as he compiled a 1.56 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 13 appearances.

He tied fellow pitcher Jake Dickmeyer for the team lead in games, and had the lowest ERA of any Johnnie with more than five appearances.

For his career, Etzell, who started college as a starting pitcher before morphing into a relief ace, went 10-4 with eight saves.

He threw 110.1 innings in 50 appearances, held foes to a .266 batting average, and finished with 90 K’s.

During Etzell’s four-year run, SJU went 116-51 (.695) overall, 55-23 (.705) in league play.

Read Full Post »

Run down some snappy pix!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on May 13, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Dane Lucero brings the heat. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

   You know it’s the end of the season when the weather is blue skies and sizzling temps.

“I’m sorry they won’t let you bring your seeing-eye dog on the field with you…”

“Zing, blue, zing!”

CHS assistant coaches CJ Smith (left) and Aaron Lucero ponder the possibilities.

   Nick Etzell (left), dodging a shoe lost by the runner, moves in for the kill on a run-down.

The season came to a close in a hail of photos.

Wanderin’ paparazzi John Fisken ended up way off Island Saturday and popped up in Tacoma to click some pics of the Coupeville High School baseball squad in its final playoff game.

The photos above are courtesy him.

To see all the action pix his camera caught, pop over to:

https://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/Coupeville-Baseball-2017-2018/2018-05-12-vs-Charles-Wright/

And, when you land there, remember, every glossy you buy for grandma helps finance college scholarships for CHS student/athletes.

So, circle of life and all.

Read Full Post »

Playoffs end, memories don’t!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on May 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Coupeville High School baseball coach Chris Smith surveys the field in Tacoma Saturday afternoon. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

   The Wolves were eliminated from the playoffs a game short of state, but, at 15-6, had their best season in more than a decade.

One trip too many.

Making its third trip to the wilds of Tacoma in a five-day span, the Coupeville High School baseball squad finally ran out of steam.

Despite playing error-free ball and getting strong work on the mound from Hunter Smith and Dane Lucero, the Wolves fell 8-3 Saturday to Charles Wright Academy and were eliminated from the district playoffs.

CWA, which rebounded to win two straight after being drilled 10-0 by CHS in the opening game of districts, joins Bellevue Christian in advancing to the state tourney.

The Tarriers may have beat the Wolves, but they have their work cut out for them next weekend, facing last year’s 1A state runner-ups, Cedar Park Christian (Bothell).

The loss drops Coupeville’s final record to 15-6, which is still the best mark the program has achieved in more than a decade.

The Wolves, who won their second Olympic League title in three years, had at least one runner on in five of seven innings, but couldn’t land the KO punch to CWA hurler Blake Nygren.

The Tarrier junior gave up two-out singles to Smith in the first and Jake Pease in the second, but squirmed away unharmed both times.

Smith was more than matching him, blowing through the first six CWA hitters.

The game took a turn in the top of the third, however, as Charles Wright connected on a lead-off double, then delivered four straight two-out hits, plating three runners.

Coupeville got one back in the bottom of the inning, thanks to Nick Etzell being plunked by a pitch, then coming around to score on a two-out RBI single off of Smith’s bat.

That base-knock was the last time the Wolves would touch Nygren for some time, though, as CHS went 11 batters between base-hits.

Other than Pease wearing a pitch in the fourth, Coupeville got nothing going offensively in the fourth through sixth.

The same wasn’t true for CWA, however, as the Tarriers, after going meekly in the fourth and fifth, found their groove in the top of the sixth.

Using a mix of well-placed hits and walks, Charles Wright tacked on five runs to turn a 3-1 nail-biter into an 8-1 romp.

Dane Lucero came on in relief of Smith, who whiffed seven, and got the Wolves out of the sixth, then pitched the seventh.

The CHS junior retired four of the five hitters he faced, surrendering just a walk.

Down to their final outs, the Wolves showed the never-say-die attitude which marked their entire season.

Senior Jake Hoagland led off with a single, Coupeville’s first hit since Smith’s RBI single back in the third, then scored when Pease reached on an error.

The final run of the season came courtesy senior second-baseman Nick Etzell, who lofted a sac fly.

That was it for the Wolves, however, with their turbo-charged run coming to an end on a ground-out to third.

CWA out-hit Coupeville 9-4 on the afternoon, and the Tarriers had four extra-base hits while the Wolves were limited to singles.

Smith delivered two of those, with Pease and Hoagland adding the other base-knocks.

CHS, which joins the new North Sound Conference next year, had a great run under coach Chris Smith, who was in his first full season running the program.

Three of the Wolves four regular-season losses were by a single run, with two of those coming to 2A schools. They also were a perfect 8-0 at home.

That was one prairie win for every senior on the roster, as Coupeville graduates Smith, Etzell, Hoagland, Julian Welling, Joey Lippo, James Vidoni, Kyle Rockwell and Jacob Zettle.

The cupboard is far from bare though, as the Wolves can return current juniors Lucero, Pease, Matt Hilborn and Shane Losey, as well as sophomores Gavin Knoblich and Jered Brown.

Freshman Daniel Olson made his varsity pitching debut in the league-clinching game, while junior Ty Eck was on the opening day varsity roster before a nagging football injury prevented him from playing.

Read Full Post »

State dream delayed, not denied!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on May 10, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Jake Hoagland steps to the plate during Thursday’s playoff game in Tacoma. (Jim Hoagland photos)

   Wolf hurler Matt Hilborn, looking very much like a man who probably just stuffed his pockets full of seeds.

A bump in the road.

One bad inning Thursday brought a momentary pause to the joy ride the Coupeville High School baseball team is enjoying this season.

But it doesn’t have to be fatal.

A momentary lapse or two in the second inning allowed Bellevue Christian to pile up all the runs it would need for a 4-1 win, giving the Vikings (13-6) the district title and a berth to the state tourney.

The playoff loss, coming on a neutral field in Tacoma, snaps Coupeville’s eight-game winning streak. Only the second defeat in the last 14 games for the Wolves, it drops them to 15-5.

But hope still burns brightly.

CHS heads back to Tacoma Saturday to play Charles Wright Academy (11-6) at Curtis High School. First pitch is scheduled for 1 PM.

The Tarriers stayed alive Thursday by eliminating Chimacum 5-0 in a loser-out game.

Coupeville destroyed CWA 10-0 in six innings the last time the two teams faced … which was Tuesday in the opening game of the playoffs.

Recreate that magic Saturday and the Wolf baseball program returns to state for the first time since 2014.

CHS had momentum coming in to the district title game and jumped on BC for a run in the top of the first.

Playing as the visiting team, the Wolves put lead-off hitter Matt Hilborn on board thanks to a single, then brought him around to score three batters later.

Julian Welling, the human RBI machine, plunked a run-scoring base-knock and everything looked like it was clicking for Coupeville.

Unfortunately, those two early hits were almost everything CHS got off of BC pitcher Daniel Teramato.

Once he escaped the first inning, the Viking hurler limited the Wolves to just two more hits the rest of the way, using just 71 pitches to blitz through seven innings.

And it was Teramato who delivered the game’s defining offensive moment as well, cracking a two-run double to cap a four-run explosion in the bottom of the second.

Bellevue mixed in a couple of timely hits with a walk or two and a key Coupeville error, then its offense also went fairly dry the rest of the way.

Wolf junior pitcher Matt Hilborn shut down the bleeding in the second by getting all three outs via whiffs, half of his six K’s on the day.

From that point until he handed the ball to reliever Dane Lucero late in the bottom of the sixth, Hilborn limited the Vikings to just two more hits.

The problem is, after playing flawless ball in every aspect of the game in their district playoff opener, the Wolves were not quite perfect against BC.

Coupeville racked up four errors in the field, four more than it committed against Charles Wright, and left what few base-runners it had hanging out to dry.

The Wolves got a runner aboard in the third on an error, only to see him erased in a double play.

After that, CHS left a man on base in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

The hardest to take came in the fifth, after Jake Pease launched a lead-off double to spark hopes of a Wolf comeback.

Instead, he was taken down on his way in to third on a fielder’s choice, and then the next two batters hit the ball straight at fielders for fly outs.

Coupeville only lost the hit parade battle 5-4, with Hilborn, Welling, Hunter Smith and Pease having base-knocks, but Teramato closed strongly, retiring eight of the final nine Wolf hitters.

Read Full Post »

“We were loving it!!”

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on May 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Jake Pease crunched a pair of hits Tuesday as Coupeville thrashed Charles Wright 10-0 to open the playoffs. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The old streak is dead. Long live the new streak.

Jumping aggressively on Charles Wright Academy early, and never letting up, the Coupeville High School baseball squad rolled to a 10-0 win Tuesday in its district playoff opener.

The win, coming on a neutral field at Foss High School, snaps a five-game playoff losing streak for the Wolves and puts them a game away from punching their ticket to state.

Coupeville, which is 15-4 and has won 12 of its last 13 games, travels to Charles Wright Academy Thursday to face Bellevue Christian in the West Central District 3 title game.

The Vikings, the #1 seed out of the Nisqually League, drilled Chimacum 13-1 Tuesday and are 12-6 on the season.

After knocking off CWA, the Wolves now have two shots to advance to state for the first time since 2014.

Beat BC Thursday and it’s a done deal.

Lose Thursday and CHS heads to Curtis High School Saturday for a winner-to-state, loser-goes-home 2nd place bout.

That game would pit the Wolves against the survivor of Thursday’s Chimacum vs. CWA game.

For the moment, though, that’s all ahead and the focus is strictly on the Wolves breaking through and writing a different tale in the playoffs.

After winning four of five playoff games to start the 2014 postseason, Coupeville had dropped its last five under three different coaches.

CHS was eliminated 2-1 by Rochester in the first round of state in ’14, then fell 1-0 to Cascade Christian at districts in 2015, the final game of Willie Smith’s stellar, two-decades career as ball coach.

Marc Aparicio’s squad fell 13-0 to Cascade Christian and 6-1 to Seattle Christian in his one full season at the helm in 2016.

Current coach Chris Smith lost 2-1 to Bellevue Christian after taking over midway through the 2017 season, but evened his playoff record Tuesday afternoon.

“We were loving it!,” the jubilant coach said. “The guys were hunting big game.”

Coupeville dominated in every facet of the game, outhitting the Tarriers 11-4, playing error-free ball in the field and getting a concise, powerful performance from starting hurler Hunter Smith.

The senior staff ace used just 76 pitches across six innings, whiffing five and never giving up more than one base-knock per inning.

The Wolves, on the other hand, came out swinging the big bats and never let up.

Matt Hilborn led off the game with a sharp single, and CHS plated four runs in the top of the first to effectively put the game on ice.

Hunter Smith launched a one-out triple to bring Hilborn around, then scampered home himself on an RBI single by Julian Welling.

Capping things off, Jake Pease, returning from an injury, followed a Dane Lucero single with a game-busting two-run double.

The Wolves pressed their advantage at the plate all afternoon, though Charles Wright managed to somehow escape the third inning unscathed even after surrendering three hits, including a moon shot of a double off of Welling’s bat.

CHS tacked on a run in the fourth, with Joey Lippo singling, swiping second and coming around on an error, then the Wolves closed things out with a bang in the sixth.

Nick Etzell, who, like Pease, is returning from an injury, kicked things off with a single.

After that came a string of walks, a nicely-hit two-run single from Lucero, then a bunch of jumpy moments for the Tarrier hurler.

Capping what was a truly awful day for the CWA program, the final run came home not on a hit or a walk, but on a balk that allowed Lucero to stroll in from third.

Coupeville spread its offense out, with eight different Wolves collecting a hit.

Welling and Pease led the way, with a single and double apiece, while Hunter Smith had his three-bagger and Lucero collected a pair of singles.

Hilborn, Lippo, Jake Hoagland and Etzell rounded out the hit parade with a base-knock apiece, while Kyle Rockwell and Gavin Knoblich chipped in with solid defense.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »