Bookend offense isn’t enough as Wolves fall to Friday Harbor / Baseball
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 4, 2017
The Coupeville High School baseball team generated offense in the first and last innings but not much in between in a 6-4 non-league loss to visiting Friday Harbor Monday, April 3.
Friday Harbor, which reached the state quarterfinals last season, raised its record to 6-0.
Coupeville scored three runs in the first inning and another in the seventh but managed only four baserunners in the second through sixth.
The Wolves’ starter, Taylor Consford, kept the Wolverines off the board until the fourth. With two on from two walks and with two outs, Friday Harbor hit three consecutive pitches for run-scoring singles to tie the game.
The Wolverines took the lead with two runs in the fifth. A walk, single and error loaded the bases. A hit batter forced in one run and a wild pitch allowed another. Reliever Matt Hilborn limited the damage with a pair of strikeouts.
Friday Harbor added another run in the seventh on a walk, groundout and single.
Down 6-3, Coupeville revived its dormant offense in the seventh, scoring one run and leaving the bases loaded.
Joey Lippo started the inning with a single. Clay Reilly walked, then Julian Welling singled in Lippo. Kory Score forced Reilly at third base on a grounder to shortstop, then Jake Hoagland walked to load the bases and put the winning run on.
The rally died, however, with two strikeouts.
In the three-run first inning, Consford reached on a dropped line drive, Lippo singled and Reilly drove in a run with a base hit. Welling’s groundout scored Lippo, then Score singled in Reilly. The Wolves went on to load the bases with one out but couldn’t produce another run.
Lippo finished with two singles and two runs; and Consford, Reilly, Score and Jake Pease, making his first start, added singles.
“We knew what to expect coming in,” Coupeville coach Chris Smith said, in regard to Friday Harbor’s recent success. “They are a pretty solid program.”
“We struggled a little bit, allowing the leadoff hitter to get on,” he added. Friday Harbor’s first batter reached base in five of the seven innings and three scored.
Coupeville (5-4) plays at Cedarcrest (2-7) in a non-league game at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 8.
