Wolves (l to r) Camden Glover, Carson Grove, Landon Roberts, and Jesus Madrigal rep the red and black. (Stevie Glover photo)
Improvement, if not yet a win.
Game #2 for a rebuilding Coupeville High School baseball program was a definite step in the right direction.
While the young Wolves fell 7-2 to East Jefferson Thursday in Port Townsend, nearly everything across the board was trending upwards for the visitors after a blowout loss in their opener.
This time around, Coupeville put runners on base in every inning and was a base knock or two away from really making a surge.
The pitching was still electric at times, with three Wolves combining to rack up 11 strikeouts, and the game was close for a good chunk.
But one problem from opening day still lingered — too many errors on defense — and that ultimately undid CHS and sent it to 0-2 on the season.
The Wolves struck first Thursday, plating their first run of the campaign in the top of the first, after Camden Glover ripped an RBI double to right to send Carson Grove sprinting home.
Starting pitcher Coop Cooper retired five of the first six batters he faced, and the lead held up until East Jefferson scratched out a run in the bottom of the second thanks to a pair of Wolf miscues.
Coupeville stranded a pair of runners in the third, then got stung hard for the only time in the bottom half of the frame.
The host team only racked up four hits all day, but they all came in the same inning, and combined with a pair of Wolf errors and a passed ball, East Jefferson built a 5-1 lead.
CHS continued to put runners on board but was unable to bring any of them around to score.
Glover rocketed a two-out triple in the fifth, while Trent Thule and Riley Lawless both walked in the sixth, but all to no avail.
Two more Wolf errors and two more East Jefferson runs in the sixth moved the deficit to 7-1, before Coupeville rallied to push a runner across in its final at-bats.
Walks to Roberts and Glover started things off, a Cooper single kept the bags jumpin’, and a fielder’s choice RBI off the bat of Jayden Little scored his team’s second run.
Cooper (5 K’s), Grove (5 K’s), and Roberts (whiffed the only batter he faced) combined to give Coupeville’s pitching staff a second-straight game of 10+ strikeouts.
The Wolves hit the road again this Saturday, traveling to Blaine to makeup a game rained out last weekend.
Thursday stats:
Coop Cooper — One single, one walk
Camden Glover — One double, one triple, one walk
Carson Grove — One walk
Riley Lawless — Two walks
Landon Roberts — One single, one walk
Trent Thule — Two walks
Coupeville Sports 