Matt Hilborn was a force at the plate and on the mound Saturday as Coupeville derailed Lynden Christian. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Change your look, change your luck.
The entire Coupeville High School baseball squad hit the diamond on Opening Day Saturday sporting new caps, while three infield starters rebelled against the fashion trend of recent years and pulled their pants legs back up, showing visible sock once again.
Whether it was their fashion-forward outlook providing the spark, or just their hot bats and slick gloves, it worked, as the Wolves thumped visiting Lynden Christian 7-3.
The win, the first for Coupeville over the Lyncs in four seasons, came on that rarest of rarities — a mid-summer’s day on the prairie in just the second week of March.
The sun was out in all its blazing glory, the skies were blue, there was not a hint of wind to be found anywhere, and the Wolves were humming.
“Just a great team win,” said CHS coach Chris Smith. “We capitalized on a lot of our opportunities and had some fun out there.
“Win or lose, we strive for excellence, and this was a great start – a solid win against a very-good program.”
Coupeville’s success started on the mound, where junior hurlers Dane Lucero and Matt Hilborn combined to blunt the Lynden attack.
Backed by a big-play defense, the duo combined to hold the Lyncs scoreless over the final three innings and were rarely in danger.
“Dane gave us five really solid, good innings, and then Matt came in with a totally different look, and we never let them find a rhythm,” Chris Smith said.
While Lynden scratched out a run in the top of the first, largely thanks to a throw off a hard grounder that got away from the Wolves, Coupeville never blinked.
Instead, the Wolves went right to work in the bottom half of the inning, putting together five hits and reclaiming the lead at 3-1.
Hilborn opened things by beating out an infield single, before Hunter Smith, Julian Welling, Lucero and Jake Hoagland went back-to-back-to-back-to-back with one-out singles.
Hunter Smith also pulled off the slide of the afternoon, doing the limbo under the Lynden catcher’s glove to score off of Lucero’s base-knock.
A bases-loaded walk to sophomore catcher Gavin Knoblich pushed home the third run, but the Lyncs managed to stifle the rally with a pair of inning-ending strikeouts.
The second inning was the only frame in which neither team scored, but Hunter Smith gave the local fans plenty to cheer, pulling off a pair of great snags on hot liners back up the middle.
Both teams added a single run in both the third and fourth, but it was a pair of defensive gems which gave onlookers goosebumps.
Busting his butt on a dead run from deep center field, Joey Lippo launched himself airborne, sliding across the grass, snagging a fly ball out of midair a moment before it landed and skipped away for extra bases.
Then, holding a one-run lead in the fourth, with runners at second and third and just one out, Coupeville pulled off an unusual double play.
The Wolves caught not just one Lync runner, both both of them, in a run-down … on the same play.
Mere seconds after watching his teammate get nailed wandering in no-man’s-land between third and home, a suddenly-crestfallen Lynden player who had failed to jump early enough, got nailed two steps away from third.
The bang-bang, run, tag, then bang-bang play caused Coupeville’s coaching staff to scream like banshees and drove the final stake through the heart of the Lyncs.
Just to make sure, Hilborn pulled off a Hunter Smith-style moment, beating a throw home on a ground-out by Welling, to push the lead out to 5-3.
An inning later, it was time for another “Matt Moment,” only this time he used his bat to be a hero.
With Hoagland and Nick Etzell dancing on the base-paths, Hilborn lashed a shot down the right-field line, dropping a two-run single right in front of the charging fielder.
Coupeville finished with eight hits on the afternoon, with Hilborn (3) and Welling (2) pacing the offense. The duo recorded two RBI’s apiece.
The victory kicked off a season-opening three-game home stand for Coupeville.
The Wolves host Chimacum Wednesday, Mar. 14 in their Olympic League opener, then welcome 2A Sequim to town the next day for a non-conference game.
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