JD Wilcox (left) whacked 85 hits over four years, best by any Wolf since 1990. (Mindy Wilcox photo)
Morgan Payne (left) and Ben Etzell were four-year starters and both finished in the top five for career hits between 1990-2016. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
Need one hit to save the day?
Over the last two decades-plus, the man you wanted at the plate for Coupeville High School was JD Wilcox, then.
Having gone through a pile of old baseball score-books, which featured wildly different recording styles (favorite notation from the late ’90s scrawled under a wild inning — “No clue. It was a cluster…”), I have a better idea now of who were the true Wolf hitting machines.
And no one recorded more career base-knocks during that time frame than Wilcox, who scorched 85 of them.
Now, having access to 18 of 27 score-books from 1990 to 2016, my research work is not complete, but reasonably close.
Even with nine missing books, I can piece together two-thirds of the time period.
So, a pretty good slice of the pie.
The best single season that I know about?
Chad Brookhouse, who stroked 32 hits in 2010.
In fact, that year produced the top four single-season performances found in my research, with Wilcox (31), Ian Smith (30) and Erik King (27) also swinging hot sticks.
Now, the question which lingers — was the ’10 team, which outhit the ’08 district champs 212-171, truly the best-hitting squad of the last 26 years?
Or was that year’s scorekeeper more lenient on what constituted a base hit?
We may never know.
Career-wise, Wilcox edges James Smith 85-77, with Ben Etzell (71), Casey Larson (70), Morgan Payne (68), Jake Tumblin (67), Alex Evans (66), Ian Smith (65), Kurtis Smith (61) and Aaron Curtin (52) rounding out the Top 10.
Of course, with the missing books, there’s always a chance we’re excluding someone worthy from that roll call.
Especially if they played from 2002-2004, the longest stretch of consecutive seasons lost to the wind.
But hey, if I’m not giving you something to argue about, I’m not doing my job.
So here, as best as I have been able to piece together, is the CHS hit parade from 1990-2016.
1990:
Frank Marti – 18
Matt Cross – 17
Chris Frey – 16
Brad Haslam – 16
Brian Barr – 13
GT Wolfe – 10
Todd Brown – 8
Ryan Samplawski – 8
Les Hall – 6
Scott Zustiak – 3
Jordan Osorio – 4
Shawn Ankney – 1
Troy Blouin -1
? Byers – 1
1991:
Brad Haslam – 18
Frank Marti – 18
Brian Barr – 15
Jason McFadyen – 15
Matt Cross – 14
Chris Frey – 12
Todd Brown – 10
Jason McManigle – 8
Ryan Samplawski – 8
Eric Anderson – 4
John Turner – 4
Troy Blouin – 1
1992:
Brad Haslam – 16
Troy Blouin – 12
Jason McManigle – 12
Jay Renaux – 11
Matt Cross – 9
Keith Currier – 9
Todd Brown – 6
Brian Wood – 5
Tad Crease – 4
Jason Hughes – 3
Eric Anderson – 2
Lance Allen – 1
Jeremiah Prater – 1
1993:
Keith Currier – 16
Cody Lowe – 9
Jason McManigle – 9
Jay Renaux – 9
Jon Crimmins – 8
Jason Hughes – 7
Keith Dunnagan – 5
Brent Fitzgerald – 5
Scott Wofford – 4
Troy Blouin – 3
Blair Miller – 1
1994:
Brad Miller – 14
Rich Morris – 13
Mike Vaughan – 13
Keith Dunnagan – 11
Nick Sellgren – 8
Jeremy Staples – 8
Brent Fitzgerald – 6
Blair Miller – 3
Ben Lyle – 2
Ryan Wiley – 1
1995:
Brad Miller – 23
Mike Sloan – 19
Jeremy Staples – 14
Mike Vaughan – 14
Greg White – 12
Christian Lyness – 11
Nick Sellgren – 11
Keith Dunnagan – 7
Rich Morris – 6
Ryan Wiley – 2
Brent Fitzgerald – 1
? Nelson – 1
1996:
Book missing
1997:
Book missing
1998:
Christian Lyness – 14
Matt Brown – 13
Aaron Henderson – 12
Josh Smith – 12
Ben Hancock – 11
Eric Wiley – 10
Caden Russell – 6
Justin Barnes – 5
Daniel Palmquist – 5
Mike James – 4
Bill Marti – 3
Jason Joiner – 1
1999:
Book missing
2000:
Book missing
2001:
David Rochin 19
Dustin Van Velkinburgh 15
Brett Barker 11
Justin Barnes 11
Tyler Hauan 11
Jacob Henderson 10
Tyrell Blouin 9
Mark Whittaker 5
JD Myers 4
Brian Fakkema 2
Brian Miller 1
Casey Mitchell 1
2002:
Book missing
2003:
Book missing
2004:
Book missing
2005:
Casey Larson 23
Kirby Mitchell 23
James Smith 19
Alex Evans 18
Trevor Mueller 18
Jack Armstrong 17
Mike Bagby 17
Cory Black 16
Anthony LaPoint 6
Tony Prosser 6
Kyle Wilcox 6
Jared Murdy 3
2006:
Book missing
2007:
James Smith – 22
Zach Hauser – 17
Casey Larson – 15
JD Wilcox – 13
Jared Murdy – 10
Kyle Wilcox – 9
Alex Evans – 7
Tony Prosser – 6
Jake Hill – 4
Cory Black – 3
Kramer O’Keefe – 1
Zach Pelant – 1
2008:
Alex Evans – 22
Zach Hauser – 22
James Smith – 22
Kyle Wilcox – 22
JD Wilcox – 19
Kramer O’Keefe – 17
Jake Hill – 16
Jared Murdy – 15
Chase Griffin – 8
Jason Bagby – 5
Ian Smith – 3
2009:
JD Wilcox – 22
Ian Smith – 16
Jake Hill – 15
Chad Brookhouse – 14
Erik King – 14
Chase Griffin – 13
Jason Bagby – 10
Kevin Eaton – 10
Alex McClain – 5
Dalton Engle – 3
Joe Fleck – 3
Ryan Oliver – 1
2010:
Chad Brookhouse – 32
JD Wilcox – 31
Ian Smith – 30
Erik King – 27
Kevin Eaton – 22
Chase Griffin – 22
Alex McClain – 17
Sean Thurman – 12
Erik Wheat – 12
Jason Bagby – 6
Drew Chan – 1
2011:
Morgan Payne – 18
Ian Smith – 16
Alex McClain – 11
Jake Tumblin – 11
Wade Schaef – 10
Brandt Bodamer – 7
Drew Chan – 7
Ben Etzell – 7
Kurtis Smith – 6
Kole Kellison – 5
Zach McCormick – 3
Ben Carlson – 2
2012:
Jake Tumblin – 18
Morgan Payne – 16
Ben Etzell – 15
Wade Schaef – 12
Drew Chan – 9
Korbin Korzan – 8
Kurtis Smith – 8
Aaron Trumbull – 8
Aaron Curtin – 7
Josh Bayne – 4
Brandt Bodamer – 3
Brian Norris -2
Zach McCormick – 1
Paul Schmakeit – 1
2013:
Morgan Payne -24
Ben Etzell – 23
Kurtis Smith – 23
Jake Tumblin – 17
Drew Chan – 11
Aaron Curtin – 11
Kyle Bodamer – 10
Korbin Korzan – 8
Aaron Trumbull – 8
Josh Bayne – 7
Wade Schaef – 3
Cole Payne – 2
Joe Edwards – 1
2014:
Ben Etzell – 25
Kurtis Smith – 24
Aaron Trumbull – 24
Josh Bayne – 21
Jake Tumblin – 21
Wade Schaef – 14
Aaron Curtin – 12
Morgan Payne – 10
Korbin Korzan – 7
Cole Payne – 4
CJ Smith – 2
2015:
Aaron Curtin – 22
Cole Payne – 16
Kyle Bodamer – 15
Josh Bayne – 13
Hunter Smith – 12
Clay Reilly – 11
Carson Risner – 11
Aaron Trumbull – 11
CJ Smith – 9
Jake Hoagland – 2
Julian Welling – 2
Gabe Wynn – 2
Joey Lippo – 1
Cameron Toomey-Stout – 1
2016:
Book not available
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