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Posts Tagged ‘Major League Baseball’

No retreat, no surrender!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on July 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Coupeville High School senior Jake Hoagland whacked an RBI double Saturday at the Battle of the Bats in Sumner. (John Fisken photo)

The Wolves stayed on the field a lot longer this time around.

Getting an immediate rematch with Honda Baseball at Battle of the Bats, Coupeville High School put up a much better fight Saturday than it did a day before.

While they still fell 9-4 at Sumner High School to the Bellevue select team, which boasts two former MLB players among its alumni, that was markedly better than Friday’s three-inning 15-0 loss.

This time around, the Wolves were tied 4-4 into the bottom of the fourth inning and stayed on the field until the game was called in the sixth inning due to a two-hour limit on games.

Now 1-2 on the weekend, CHS closes the tourney with a Sunday morning game at Bellarmine Prep against the PBC Zips, a select team from Seattle.

Having split two games in pool play Friday, the Wolves entered bracket play seeded #15 out of 25 teams, which set up the unexpected rematch with Honda Baseball.

After falling behind 4-0, Coupeville rallied in the top of the third, turning three hits into four runs of its own.

Gavin Knoblich started things off by eking out a walk.

The CHS sophomore moved to second on a sac bunt by Jake Pease, then scampered home when Matt Hilborn crunched an RBI double.

A walk to Joey Lippo kept things going, before Dane Lucero (a two-run single) and Jake Hoagland (an RBI double) came through with big base-knocks.

Hoagland tried to keep the fire burning extra bright, but was nailed at third while trying to stretch his hit into a triple.

While he departed the field, he took a rival with him after accidentally blowing up the guy’s ankle on the bang-bang play.

Coupeville had two more chances after its big rally, getting doubles from Thomas Anderson in the fourth and Lippo in the fifth.

Both blows turned out to be one-time shots, however, as both Wolf runners were left stranded on base.

Honda Baseball chipped away against CHS hurlers Austin Boesch, Jonathan Thurston and Hilborn, breaking through for two runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth.

The select squad, which will have a chance to play for a title in its bracket Sunday, has been in business since 1988.

There is an extensive list of players who went on to play college ball listed on the team’s web site, with its greatest claims to fame being pitchers John LeRoy and Sean White.

LeRoy had a cup of coffee with the Atlanta Braves in 1997 and can boast a MLB win on his resume, while White appeared in 105 games for the Seattle Mariners from 2007-2010.

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Wrong, wrong and even more, wrong!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , , on April 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

(John Fisken photos)

   Coupeville High School second baseman CJ Smith is in place to apply the tag. (John Fisken photos)

you're

“And you’re…”

OUT!!"

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOUT!!”

But the ump called him safe, causing Wolf fans like Kathy Bayne to feel the pain.

  Except the ump called him safe, leaving Wolf fans like Kathy Bayne to feel the pain.

The umpires try.

But sometimes they make you want to cry.

Saturday in Langley, as Coupeville and South Whidbey clashed on the diamond, there was a wham-bam moment at second that went the way of the Falcons.

Except it shouldn’t have, since the camera of John Fisken clearly shows Wolf second baseman CJ Smith slapped the tag on BEFORE the runner touched the bag.

But, high school ball, unlike Major League Baseball, doesn’t have replay.

It does, however, have bloggers willing to needle the umps.

So, that’s a start…

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Baseball has been very, very good to him!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Boys Tennis, tagged , , , , , on January 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Rising baseball star Joey Lippo, disguised as a basketball player. (John Fisken photo)

Joey Lippo, in disguise as a basketball player. (John Fisken photo)

Joey Lippo takes his sports seriously.

The Coupeville High School freshman, a three-sport athlete (tennis, basketball, baseball) is building a reputation for always having his game face on, though he was spotted cracking up on the bench at a recent hoops game.

Ask him about it, however, and he’ll deny, deny, deny.

But whether he’s grinning or not in his photos, the Wolf young gun is taking huge strides on the athletic field. Baseball remains his #1 sport and it’s carrying him far and wide.

A scouting report from proud papa Joe Lippo on their most recent trip:

Over the past three days, CHS’ own Joey Lippo has been in Mesa, AZ, participating in the Under Armour Baseball Factory spring training program.

This involves three days of training, for up to 12 hours per day.

The weather was great, averaging 73 degrees under scattered cloud cover. Perfect for baseball.

Joey, along with 35 other high schoolers from around the country, learned from Major League hitting, catching, fielding and conditioning coaches from the Kansas City, Anaheim, Colorado and USA Baseball clubs.

Joey’s stats over the six games played were fairly good, and across six plate appearances he went 2 for 5 with a walk.

He played catcher and 1st base (a first for him), performing admirably, and better than expected at 1st.

The coaches, like last year, were no nonsense, no BS, and no slack given. If they thought you weren’t performing, they would let you know.

This, however was not intended to berate or belittle the player, as the call-out was followed with a way to fix what they were doing wrong.

The players ran everywhere, and were in constant motion. There was very little standing around.

New drills were introduced, arm strength was evaluated, speed measured, and resolve tested.

Some players struggled at the plate, others in the field. As the days went on, it only got harder due to fatigue and soreness.

There were highlights, including a kid that hit the ball to the warning track, some Sports Center-like defensive plays, and close plays at the plate.

There were also low-lights, with a couple players going “O-fer” at the plate, ground balls bouncing off mitts (and other body parts), and even a player running into the fence (he was OK).

In the end, the camp ended with no significant injury, although there were 36 exhausted high schoolers with various stages of sore arms and legs, twisted ankles, and assorted cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

For Joey’s part, he will be bringing several pro-level drills back to CHS, and will hopefully be able to contribute to the teams success in the coming season.

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