Chantilly; 6-A North Region champs for 2016. Photo via @PhilChantilly on twitter
This is post #3 of High School Tourney coverage for 2016. Here’s the schedule:
- #1: DC/MD/VA District High School Tournament Report: post-season kickoff. Covers: MD regional kickoffs, VA district brackets, Private school tourney updates. Usually publishes the week before Memorial day tournament finals.
- #2: Maryland State Champs, Northern VA District Champs crowned Covers: MD state finals, VA district tourneys, VA regional brackets, DC regular season results. Usually publishes after the Memorial Day weekend tournaments finish up.
- #3: Virginia Regional Results (this post).. Covers: VA regional results, State brackets, and summarizes DC and MD. Usually publishes the first week of June.
- #4: Final Prep Baseball Update: Virginia State Champions crowned. Covers: VA state tourneys, recaps MD, DC, Private School results. Publishes mid-June once the Va state tourney wraps up.
In this post, we will cover the Virginia Regional results, preview the VA State brackets, have summaries to the DC, Maryland and Private school results, and will continue with POTY reports.
Text in Red are pending results; I’ll update this post as the results come in even post publishing.
Virginia Regionals:
All regional brackets are available at this VHSL main link.
6-A North Regionals: Here were your qualifiers:
- Conference 5/Concorde: Chantilly, Centreville, Westfield, Robinson
- Conference 6/Liberty: Madison, McLean, Washington & Lee, South Lakes.
- Conference 7/Potomac: Lake Braddock, West Springfield, West Potomac
- Conference 8/Cedar Run: Battlefield, Patriot, Osborne Park, Osbourne.
My Initial Predictions: all four #1 seeds advancing with a likely Battlefield-Chantilly regional final.
6-A North Regional Tournament Results: There was only one upset by seeding in the first round of the 6-A North playoffs (#3 seed Centreville over #2 seed Annandale); otherwise most of the teams played close, one- or two-run games. In the 5/27/16 quarters, the recent dominance of the Liberty district was exposed as both Madison and McLean were defeated handily. The Regional semis are now Battlefield vs Centreville (who blanked Madison 3-0) and Chantilly versus Patriot (who upset #1 seed Lake Braddock). A good showing for the Cedar Run conference in 2016. In the Regional Semis, Battlefield’s Jake Agnos struck out 13 in a tight 2-0 win over Centreville, while Chantilly walked off against Patriot. In all honesty, I think this is the best regional final to be expected, pairing the two beat teams in the region. Hats off to Chantilly for making their third straight regional final, where they’ll be favored after easily handling Battlefield’s #2 starter when these two teams faced off earlier this spring. In the 6/3/16 final, Chantilly easily handled Battlefield for a second time this year, getting 5 runs in the first and a complete game from its #2 Forrest Wagner and winning the regional title 8-3. Chantilly’s 2nd region title in three years.
State Semi finalists: Chantilly (23-2), Battlefield (22-4).
6-A South Regional: Here were your qualifiers:
- 6-A Conference 1/Coastal: First Colonial, Ocean Lakes
- 6-A Conference 2/Monitor Merrimac: Grassfield, Western Branch
- 6-A Conference 3: Manchester, Cosby.
- 6-A Conference 4: Colonial Forge, Hylton
My initial predictions: Colonial Forge and Grassfield in the Regional final.
6-A South Regional Results: In the 5/31/16 quarters, upsets prevailed as all four road teams won against higher seeded opponents. Hylton beat Manchester, Western Branch beat First Colonial, Cosby upset Colonial Forge and Ocean Lakes beat the favored Grassfield. In the state semis, Cosby rallied late to walk-off against favored Ocean Lakes while Hylton upset the favored Western Branch to setup a highly unlikely regional final. In that final, upstart Hylton traveled to Cosby and won on the road 7-3 to take the Regional title. The WP had a nice feature on Hylton pitcher Fox Semones (committed to JMU) after the regional completed.
State semi-finalists: Hylton (21-7), Cosby (13-7)
5-A North Regional: Here were your qualifiers:
- Conference 13/Capitol: Marshall, Edison, Lee
- Conference 14: Briar Woods, Stone Bridge, Tuscarora
- Conference 15: Mountain View, Potomac, Stafford
- Conference 16: Halifax, Atlee, Orange
My Initial Predictions: Mountain View-Marshall regional final with Mountain View prevailing.
5-A North Regional tournament Results: (5-A North Bracket Here) In the #2/#3 seed play-in battles, only Edison was exposed and lost easily to Tuscarora. In the quarters, only Briar Woods was upset (by Potomac), setting up two intriguing regional semis matches on 6/1/16. In the semi-finals, Potomac left it late to upset the favored Marshall and return to the State tournament for the first time in a generation while Mountain View squeaked out a victory over Halifax 2-1. In the final, Mountain View rallied late to prevail over Potomac to take their first regional title 5-4. Evan Antonellis continued his hot post-season with a 3-run homer early, but Potomac couldn’t hold them off.
State Semi finalists: Mountain View (20-4), Potomac (20-7)
5-A South Regional: Here were your qualifiers:
- Conference 9/Atlantic: Hickory, Indian River.
- Conference 10/PenSouth: Menchville, Nansemond River
- Conference 11: Glen Allen, Mills Godwin.
- Conference 12: Prince George, Matoaca
My Initial Predictions: I like Hickory and Glen Allen’s chances.
5-A South Regional tournament Results: In the quarters on 5/30/16, both Conference 11 teams (Glen Allen & Mills Godwin) won easily over their Conference 12 foes to setup a district rematch in one Regional Semi. In the other quarters, Nansemond River upset Hickory while Indian River upset Menchville. In the semis, Mills Godwin completed a season sweep over district rival Glen Allen (beating them for the third time) while Nansemond River (Suffolk) continued their upset-minded run to the Regional final with an easy win over Indian River. In the finals, Nansemond River jumped ahead early and never looked back, beating Godwin 10-1.
State Semi finalists: Nansemond River (19-7), Mills Godwin (19-5).
4-A East Regional: We used to call 4-A a “smaller” conference, but now perhaps the best team in the state is in 4-A, so we’ll follow it more closely. There are no 4-A schools in Northern Virginia; these are all down-state schools, but they’re important to follow nonetheless. Here were your qualifiers:
- Conference 17: Great Bridge, Wilson
- Conference 18/Ironclad: Jamestown, Lafayette
- Conference 19: King George, Louisa
- Conference 20: Hanover, Dinwiddie
My Predictions: Hard not to predict a Great Bridge, Hanover final; Great Bridge is a long-time 5-A powerhouse newly demoted to 4-A and Hanover won the old AAA in 2013 before the splitting into 4A/5A/6A.
4-A East Regional tournament Results: In the quarters, #1 seeds Hanover (19-1) and Jamestown (19-1) advanced, Dinwiddie upset King George, and Lafayette upset powerhouse Great Bridge in a quarterfinal delayed 3 days by rain. In the semis, Jamestown blanked Dinwiddie 7-0 to advance to States. In the other semi, Hanover destroyed Lafayette 14-3 to setup a dream 4-A East final between two one-loss teams. In that final, Hanover wiped out Jamestown 11-0 to take the regional title for the 3rd time in four years and lay claim to the best team in the state.
State Semi Finalists: Hanover (22-1), Jamestown (22-2)
4-A West Regional: Here were your qualifiers: I’m not entirely sure why Conference 21 is now split into two.
- Conference 21 East: Millbrook, Woodgrove
- Conference 22 West: Loudoun County, Loudoun Valley
- Conference 22: Kettle Run, John Champe
- Conference 23: Liberty Christian Academy, Jefferson Forrest
- Conference 24: Salem, William Byrd
My Predictions: I think it has to be a one-loss Kettle Run versus the newly eligible Liberty Christian. However, thanks to district tournament upsets there are some very tough matchups early in the regional tournament.
4-A West Regional tournament Results: In the play-ins, Jefferson Forest and Loudoun Valley easily advanced. In the Quarters, Millbrook outlasted Loudoun Valley in extra innings, Liberty Christian advanced easily when Zack Hess no-hit John Champe, Kettle Run squeaked by Jefferson Forest 3-2, and Salem eased by Loudoun County. In the Semis: Kettle Run absolutely destroyed Salem 15-1 (though to be fair, it was tied 1-1 heading into the 5th) while Liberty Christian gave up just 2 hits to Millbrook en route to a 5-1 victory to setup the dream final. You have to favor LCA at this point, since Hess should be ready to go in the final. In the final (which got delayed for 4 full days), LCA won a tough 4-3 game over Kettle Run for their first 4-A regional title (recall, they just converted to VHSL for this season).
State Semi Finalists: Liberty Christian Academy (18-3), Kettle Run (20-2)
Virginia Smaller Classifications: we’ll just summarize the regional finalists who are moving on to the state tournament. Most all Finals set for 6/3/16.
- 3-A East; Poquoson defeated William Monroe (who won their quarter 17-0).
- 3-A West: Turner Ashby defeated Rustburg.
- 2-A East: Maggie Walker defeated Goochland 8-5 in an abbreviated regional final.
- 2-A West: Virginia High School defeated Greyson County 10-9 for its third straight regional title.
- 1-A East: Windsor d Rappahannock
- 1-A West: Eastside defeats Fort Chiswell 4-3, scoring 3 runs in the last to walk-off.
Virginia State tourney match-ups and tourney locations
All the state tourneys run from June 8th-11th at the various sites. All state brackets available from this link at VHSL.
Semifinals and Finals:
1A/2A – at Radford/Salem, June 8-11
3A/4A – at Liberty University, Lynchburg, June 8-11
5A/6A– at Lake Braddock/Robinson., June 8-11
Here’s the state semis match-ups with records as of the start of the state tourney:
- 6-A match-ups: Chantilly vs Cosby, Hylton vs Battlefield
- 5-A match-ups: Mountain View vs Mills Godwin, Nansemond River vs Potomac.
- 4-A match-ups: Hanover vs Kettle Run, Liberty Christian Academy vs Jamestown
- 3-A match-ups: Turner Ashby-William Monroe, Poquoson-Rustburg
- 2-A match-ups: Maggie Walker-Greyson County, Virginia High-Goochland
- 1-A match-ups: Rappahannock-Eastside, Fort Chiswell-Windsor
State Predictions:
- I’ll go with a Chantilly-Battlefield re-match in 6-A; Battlefield has already beaten Hylton this year; it all depends on when they decide to throw Agnos.
- Mountain View-Nansemond River in 5-A
- Liberty Christian over Hanover
- Chalk in 3-A: turner Ashby v Poquoson
- Virginia High to three-peat in 2A
- Eastside in 1A
Recent Virginia HS champs: Before 2014, we just AAA, AA and A; now we have 1-A through 6-A.
2015: See this post for 2015’s state tournament wrapup for all 6 divisions:
- In 6-A, Madison d Chantilly 6-5. First Colonial & defending champ Western Branch were state semifinalists.
- In 5-A, Stone Bridge d Marshall 9-4. 2014 finalists Hickory & Freeman were state semifinalists.
- In 4-A, Glen Allen d Jefferson Forrest 9-3. Fauquier & Hanover were state semifinalists.
- In the smaller classifications, Lafayette won 3-A, Virginia High repeated in 2-A and William Campbell won 1-A.
2014: see this post for 2014’s state tournament wrap up for all 6 divisions.
- In 6-A, Western Branch d Chantilly 6-4. McLean and Cosby were state semifinalists.
- In 5-A, Hickory d Freeman 6-4. Stone bridge and the surprising Freedom-South Riding semi finalists.
- In 4-A, Hanover d Millbrook 7-1.
- In the smaller classifications, Loudoun Valley won 3-A, Virginia High won 2-A and Northumberland won 1-A.
2013: AAA: Hanover d Great Bridge. Hanover’s super-junior Derek Casey (committed to UVA) outlasts Great Bridge and their 1st round talent Connor Jones (now attending UVA after spurning a likely late 1st round draft position). Lake Braddock and Oakton beaten in the semis.
2012: AAA: Lake Braddock d Kellam 4-0. Lake Braddock lost to West Springfield in the regional title game but then blitzed to a state championship.
2011: AAA: Great Bridge d South County in the state final, giving the powerful South County its first and only loss on the season after starting the season 28-0. Lake Braddock was the regional finalist and lost to Great Bridge in the state quarters.
2010: AAA: West Springfield d Woodbridge in the final, giving Woodbridge its only loss on the year. WT Woodson regional finalist.
Complete history of Virginia HS Champions: from VHSL’s website. Covers all sports and has results for a century. Lots of fun to dig through.
Maryland
Here’s the state finals results in Maryland. Brackets here at the MPSAA website.
A quick list of past Maryland State champions by division past what we have here.
The Maryland public high school seasons are now complete.
DC Public Schools/DCIAA:
Private Leagues: WCAC/MAC/IAC and VISAA/Maryland Private
All local area Private schools’ seasons are now complete.
Individual Player Accolades Announced
In addition to being playoff-baseball time, this is also the time of the year that we start to see player awards.
Gatorade announced their player of the year awards on 5/24/16. (Link to all Gatorade/USA Today players of the year per state)
- Maryland: Spalding’s Tyler Blohm won the Maryland award. Committed to Maryland.
- Washington DC: St. John’s Cam Remalia (by way of Waldorf, MD) won the DC award. Committed (per PG) to Coastal Carolina.
- Virginia: Flint Hill’s Khalil Lee won the Virginia award. Committed to Liberty but likely to get drafted early.
Pending Awards to be announced/expected later this spring:
- VISAA’s All-State teams, Division I, Division II and Division III. Khalil Lee (Flint Hill) is the Division 1 player of the year. Harry Brown (Greenbrier Christian) is Division II player of the year. Andrew Lowe (Southampton Academy) is Division III player of the year
- Washington Post All-Met teams: have been selected (by virtue of all the twitter shout-outs I’ve seen) but not yet published. Meanwhile, here’s a fantastic list of all All-Met teams in all sports going back to 1991 that i’m spinning into a “where are they now” post to be done sometime in the future.
- NovaBaseballMagazine.com has selected All conference teams for all the Northern Virginia-based conferences; click on the “Standings” link from their home page, navigate down to the division in question, and you’ll get the final 2016 conference standings, then the results of the conference tournament, and the all conference team.
- Louisville Slugger All-Americans: tba 6/12/16 eta
- USA Today All-Americans: tba 6/10/16 eta
- Baseball America All-Americans:
- The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro Team
- Richmond Times-Dispatch All-Richmond team (if exists)
- Virginian Pilot All-tidewater team (if exists)
- Virginia All 6-A North Regional team: Jake Agnos, LHP Battlefield is the Pitcher of the year, Jared DiCesare, Chantilly is the Player of the year.
- Other Virginia All-Regional teams: pending
- VHSL All-State Teams: pending release
- Maryland MIAA All-State teams (if exists)
My master list of links used to cover HS Baseball:
Local and National High School Baseball Ranking Lists: Updated for 5/23/16 in most cases.
- Washington Post All Met Sports Area top-10 ranking: Madison maintained #1 ranking most of the season but now Chantilly & Battlefield will lay claim.
- NovaBaseballMagazine.com Rankings: Madison and Chantilly have dominated the rankings all year, Battlefield & Marshall there too.
- PrepBaseballReport maintains a VA State-Wide Power25 Rankings: Greenbrier Christian, Hanover, Liberty Christian leading the way.
- Baltimore Sun Top-10 Poll Archives: Perennial power Spalding has been at the top for a good chunk of the season. Chesapeake, Severna Park.
- The Virginian Pilot Top-10 for Hampton Roads area: Private school powerhouse Greenbrier Christian, Grassfield and one-loss First Colonial have led the way most of the year.
- Richmond times-Dispatch Richmond-Area top-10: perennial 4-A power Hanover leads the way.
- UsaToday’s National High School “Expert” Rankings 5/25/16: Hanover comes in at #16, Spalding at #21.
- USAtoday’s National “Computer” Rankings 5/25/16: Just Hanover at #21.
- Baseball America Top 25: No local teams ranked. Madison was in the pre-season list but quickly dropped out with its early season tourney losses.
- MaxPreps “Excellent 25” ranking: No local teams listed. Madison started #11
- MaxPreps “Excellent 50” rankings: No local teams listed.
- MaxPreps All-Virginia Rankings: Hanover, Grassfield 1-2, then 4-A Jamestown (maybe a bit high), then the two big private schools Greenbrier Christian and Liberty Christian. Highest ranked 5-A team is Mountain View, so there’s your 6A/5A/4A favorites.
These National rankings are dominated by teams in Texas, Florida and California, as you might expect. These teams can play nearly 40 games and usually have at least 15-20 under their belts before DC/MD/VA teams even get going. So its somewhat of an accomplishment just to have a local team get some recognition. In fact, any cold-weather state team appearing in these lists is pretty special.
Major Newspaper Links/Resources for following prep baseball around the state
- Washington Post’s AllMetSports section with standings and schedule results.
- The Baltimore Sun’s high school page has information on some of the programs outside the DC area mentioned in the Maryland section
- InsideNova.com‘s coverage of high school sports, but has put limits on the number of stories you can read.
- Richmond Times-Dispatch has a HS scoreboard.
- Hampton Roads Pilot (Hampton Roads) has scores for teams in the Chesapeake/Norfolk/Va Beach area.
- NovaBaseballMagazine: great coverage of Prep baseball in NorthernVirginia (thanks to Joe Antonellis for the heads up on this great new resource).
Local Newspaper Coverage, including links to many local papers covering smaller jurisdictions.
Non-newspaper Links for Local and National Prep Baseball Coverage
- VHSL’s and MPSSAA home pages for updates on VA and MD respectively.
- DCIAA‘s website, which barely has a schedule but will eventually print results and playoff brackets
- PerfectGame: perfectgame.org is the best place to find HS prospect information.
- MaxPreps DC/VA specific coverage.
- Prep Baseball Report: DC/VA specific coverage (thanks again to Joe Antonellis for this link)
- Dynamic Baseball: good prep coverage on the east coast.
Good Twitter accounts to follow:
- https://twitter.com/toddeboss/lists/prepbaseball: I maintain an open list at my twitter account via this link, which contains direct links to dozens of local resources (including all the below). Way too many retweets from the travel team accounts especially, but its a good way to keep up with local ball.
- https://twitter.com/PBRVirginiaDC: Prep Baseball Report VA/DC coverage
- https://twitter.com/NVBaseballMag: NoVa Baseball Magazine
- https://twitter.com/NoVAHSBB
- https://twitter.com/DynamicBaseball
