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Prep Baseball Update 2015: Maryland State Champs, Northern VA District Champs crowned

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When we last checked in with Prep Baseball in Mid May,  Maryland was through its regionals, the private schools were mostly done, DC was still finishing the regular season, and Virginia was just starting up its District (aka “Conference”) tournaments.  Lets see where we stand now after the Memorial Day weekend and a slew of tournament results.

Text in Red are pending results, mostly from the southern Virginia districts and regionals, which don’t have to start as soon as Northern Virginia tourneys.

Virginia

Here are the Virginia Conference champions, regular season and tournament.  All these playoff brackets, if they exist, are at this link at VHSL.  I won’t re-link all the playoff brackets per district/region below.

6-A North Region

  • 6-A Conference 5/Concorde: Chantilly regular season champ.  Seeds held to form in the district tourney and Chantilly met Oakton in the district final.  Chantilly beat Oakton 2-1 to take the district title.
  • 6-A Conference 6/Liberty: McLean regular season champ.  #5 seed Fairfax upset McLean to make the District final, where they met Madison.  In the district final, Madison avenged an earlier loss to Fairfax to win 2-0 at home to take the title.
  • 6-A Conference 7/Potomac: Lake Braddock regular season champ.  #2 and #3 seeds Annandale and West Potomac were both upset and knocked out of Regional competition.  Lake Braddock met #6 seed South County in the district final and beat them easily 12-4 to win the title.
  • 6-A Conference 8/Cedar Run: Patriot regular season champ.  Battlefield had to forfeit its semi-final win over pitcher innings/pitch count limits, so Osbourn Park made the district final, where it subsequently beat Patriot in extras to win an unlikely district title.  Battlefield’s forfeit was absurd; their starter Jake Agnos struck out 21 *straight batters* in the 6-1 victory … and then resulted in a forfeit loss.  Agnos gave up a lead-off homer … and then retired the next 21 guys he faced.  I’ve never heard of such a feat.

6-A North Regional Qualifiers (in seed order).  Here’s the 6-A North bracket.  Play begins 5/29/15.

  • Conference 5/Concorde: Chantilly, Oakton, Herndon, Centreville
  • Conference 6/Liberty: Madison, Fairfax, McLean, South Lakes
  • Conference 7/Potomac: Lake Braddock, South County, West Springfield, TC Williams
  • Conference 8/Cedar Run: Patriot, Osborne Park, Battlefield, Stonewall Jackson

Quick predictions for 6-A North regional tourney: I like Madison, Oakton, Patriot and Battlefield, since they were basically the best 6-A teams all year.  But do not count out Chantilly or McLean.  Thanks to their district forfeit, Battlefield drops to a #3 regional seed and a headache for a higher seeded team.  And McLean’s upset loss dumps them to a #3 seed as well in the region, despite besting perhaps the best 6-A baseball district in the regular season.  With the draws out, Battlefield faces Oakton in the first round, which is tough.  If seeds hold it’ll be Lake Braddock-Madison and Patriot-Chantilly in the regional semis.

6-A South Region: which is mostly big-time schools in Richmond, Roanoke and Virginia Beach area.  But there are just enough schools in Woodbridge proper to form a 6-A conference closer to DC with teams that are typically considered for All-Met rankings.  Because 6-A’s regional is only 8 teams, their district tournaments are not yet complete as of the time of this posting.

  • 6-A Conference 1/Coastal: First Colonial (aka Mark Reynolds‘ alma mater) regular season champs.  They were upset in the districts but still qualify for the regionals.  In the district final, Cox claimed the second regional birth with a win over Ocean Lakes.
  • 6-A Conference 2/Monitor Merrimac: Western Branch regular season champ.  However #2 Grassfield got them in the district tourney final.
  • 6-A Conference 3: Franklin County (Rocky Mount, south of Roanoke) regular season champ.  In the district tourney #5 seed Cosby scored three straight upsets to claim the district title, beating Thomas Dale in the final.  Cosby made the State semis last year and is looking to get back after an up-and-down regular season.
  • 6-A Conference 4: Forest Park (Woodbridge) regular season champ.  Forest Park also won the district tournament, beating Colonial Forge 10-2 in the final.  Colonial Forge had upset #2 seed and perennial powerhouse Hylton in the district tourney semis to claim the 2nd regional berth.

6-A South Regional Qualifiers (district finals 5/29/15)

  • 6-A Conference 1/Coastal:  First Colonial, Cox
  • 6-A Conference 2/Monitor Merrimac: Western Branch, Grassfield
  • 6-A Conference 3: Cosby, Thomas Dale
  • 6-A Conference 4: Forest Park, Colonial Forge

Quick predictions for 6-A South regional tourney: Western Branch is the only team in the state getting national attention, and they’re ranked #1 in the Hampton paper’s local rankings.  So I look for them to claw their way to the state tournament.

5-A North Region

  • 5-A Conference 13/Capitol: Marshall regular season champ.  Seeds held to form (with Marshall beating Lee by the astounding score of 21-0 in the district semis), and Marshall met Edison in the final.  In that final Marshall beat Edison 4-1 for its 10th straight win.
  • 5-A Conference 14: Stone Bridge (Ashburn) regular season champ.  In the playoffs, 1/2 met in the final and Stone Bridge beat Broad Run for the district title.  In the 3rd place game, Briar Woods grabbed the 3rd regional bid.
  • 5-A Conference 15: Mountain View (Stafford) regular season champ.  In the playoffs Mountain View and Potomac (Dumfries) met in the finals, where Mountain View pulverized them 10-0.  In the 3rd place game, North Stafford easily grabbed the 3rd regional bid.
  • 5-A Conference 16: Halifax County regular season champ.  They met #2 seed Patrick Henry in the final and Patrick Henry upset Halifax for the district title.

5-A North Regional Qualifiers (in seed order): 5-A North regional bracket here.  Play begins on 5/29/15.

  • Conference 13/Capitol: Marshall, Edison, Stuart, Lee
  • Conference 14: Stone Bridge, Broad Run, Briar Woods
  • Conference 15: Mountain View, Potomac, North Stafford
  • Conference 16: Patrick Henry, Halifax County

Quick predictions for 5-A North regional tourney: I like Stone Bridge to repeat, Marshall could be a challenger.  They are on opposite sides of the draw and could both make the regional final.  But non-DC area teams like Patrick Henry and Mountain View could be challengers.

5-A South Region

  • 5-A Conference 9/Atlantic: Kellam (in Virginia Beach, aka Ryan Zimmerman‘s alma mater) regular season champ.  Kellam was upset in the district tournament, with Princess Anne claiming the 2nd regional berth by winning the tourney.
  • 5-A Conference 10/PenSouth: Hickory (Chesapeake) regular season champ (also defending 5-A state champ).  Hickory advanced to the district final along with Menchville, who upset 2nd seeded Great Bridge along the way, before Hickory claimed the district tourney as well.
  • 5-A Conference 11: Deep Run (Glen Allen/Northern Richmond suburb) regular season champ (Freeman, last year’s 5-A state finalist, was 2nd in the district).  The two teams met in the final with Deep Run getting the double.
  • 5-A Conference 12: Manchester (Midlothian/Southern Richmond suburb) regular season champ.  Clover Hill took the district title and the #1 seed in the regionals.

5-A South Regional Qualifiers (in seed order): (district finals 5/29/15)

  • Conference 9/Atlantic: Kellam, Princess Anne
  • Conference 10/PenSouth: Hickory, Menchville
  • Conference 11: Deep Run, Freeman
  • Conference 12: Clover Hill, Manchester

 

Quick thoughts: hard not to believe in the pedigree of Hickory and Freeman; I fully expect them to meet in the regional final.

Smaller Virginia Classifications with Northern Virginia ties.

4-A North:

  • 4-A conference 21: Woodgrove regular season champ.   Woodgrove also won the tourney, beating Sherando in the district final (both teams move to the 4-A North Regional). 
  • 4-A Conference 22: Fauquier regular season champ and tourney champ, beating Eastern View in the final.

3-A East Region

  • 3-A Conference 27: Kettle Run regular season champ, Culpepper #2.  They met in the tourney final as well, with Kettle Run taking both regular and post-season district titles.
  • 3-A Conference 28: Loudoun Valley (regularly in the AllMet top 10 rankings) regular season champ.  They also took the post-season tourney, beating #2 seed John Champe in the final.

2-A East Region

  • 2-A Conference 35: Strasburg continues its local dominance, winning the district again.  Falls Church’s George Mason (easily the smallest public high school in the Northern Virginia suburbs) was the #3 district seed but advanced to the district finals to face Strasburg.  Strasburg took the tourney final, but George Mason advances to the regional tournament.

 

Maryland

Here’s the state finals results in Maryland, played the week of 5/18/15  Brackets here at the MPSAA website.

  • 4-A States: State Semis were Perry Hall v Severna Park, Gaithersburg-Wise.  Severna Park and Gaithersburg each dominated their state semi to force a high-powered showdown of good teams in the 4-A final.  In that final, Gaithersburg beat Severna Park 5-3 at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen for its first ever state baseball title.
  • 3-A States: State semi finalists were North Harford (Plyville in North Maryland), Mt. Hebron in Ellicott City, Chopticon (way down in St. Mary’s county) and Urbana (just south of Frederick).  In the state-semis, Mt. Hebron and Chopticon won close games to make the final.  In the final, Chopticon’s ace Ljay Newsome threw a complete game 1-hitter with 17 strikeouts to win the title 1-0.
  • 2-A States: State semi finalists: Eastern Tech, Patterson Mill, South Carroll and last  year’s champ Southern.  Eastern Tech and Southern each won 1-run games to make the 2-A final.  In the final, Southern beat Eastern Tech 6-1 to repeat as 2-A champs.
  • 1-A States: State semi finalists: McDonough, Colonel Richardson, Douglass and Brunswick make up this year’s 1-A state semis (mostly smaller schools outside the DC area).  In the state semis, McDonough will face off against the tough-looking Brunswick team.  Brunswick won the title 4-0.

A quick list of past Maryland State champions by division:

The Maryland public high school seasons are now complete.

DC Public Schools/DCIAA:

  • DCIAA: Wilson won its 23rd consecutive DCIAA regular season title, extending its city league winning streak in the process.  DCIAA tournament runs through 6/3/15.
  • DCSAA: the 2015 tournament is underway, with the final scheduled for Nats park on 5/31/15.  Gonzaga is the #1 seed and Wilson the #2.  Curiously missing is St. Johns, who won the WCAC and is DC-based.  St. Albans upset Wilson in the semis to face Gonzaga in the final.

Private Leagues: WCAC/MAC/IAC and VISAA/Maryland Private

Most private schools’ seasons are now complete.

Speaking of Liberty Christian … apparently the school had an open lawsuit against the Virginia High School League (VHSL) regarding membership, and the VHSL settled on 5/20/15.  The implication?  Quoting the link, “all non-boarding private schools in Virginia will be permitted to apply for membership in the VHSL.”   Liberty Christian Academy will now join the 4-A conference 23 (which covers the Lynchburg and Charlottesville area) and can compete for state titles in all sports.

I wonder if this ruling will lead to the various private schools in the Northern Virginia Area (including typical sports powerhouses such as Paul VI, O’Connell, Flint Hill, Bishop Ireton, etc) leaving the WCAC and joining the public schools.  I doubt it frankly; even the largest of these schools would be dwarfed by the 5-A and 6-A enrollment public high schools, and the WCAC is a fantastic league.  InsideNova had a piece on the topic quoting several area ADs of private schools (including Paul VI’s Billy Emerson, a class-mate and longtime teammate of mine), who think perhaps this ruling makes it easier for teams to schedule public opponents … but doubts any league changes will occur with DC-area teams thanks to the strength of the private school leagues here.

Local and National High School Baseball Ranking Lists:

  • Washington Post All Met Sports latest Baseball top 10: ?? date: Spalding, Gaithersburg 1-2, then Oakton, Madison, and Battlefield.  Stone Bridge 8th despite a win over Madison in Vienna.
  • Baltimore Sun Rankings page : dated 5/25/15: They also have Spalding #1, then Calvert Hall, St. Marys, 4-A finalist Severna Park and then 3-A finalist Mt. Hebron.  Reservoir 6th.
  • Hampton Roads Baseball top 10 page: dated 5/19/15: Western Branch #1, then Grassfield & Hickory.
  • Baseball America’s High School top 25 (most recent ranking 5/5/15): no DC/MD/VA teams listed.
  • USA Today High School top 25 (most recent ranking 5/20/15): Western Branch closest to top-25, ranked 26th.  Spalding (both Washington Post’s and Baltimore Sun’s #1 team) ranked 42nd nationally.
  • USA Today’s Virginia-only rankings: no longer seem to be in existence.
  • MaxPreps top 25/top 50 lists, which has a hand-picked and a computer/power ranking list.  5/24/15 rankings.  No DC/MD/VA teams in MaxPrep’s “Excellent 50.”  Highest ranked teams in the area are Liberty Christina (#55), Western Branch (#67), Turner Ashby (#72).  Chopticon and Spalding are in the 75-100 range.

Resources:

  • Washington Post’s AllMetSports section with standings and schedule results.
  • InsideNova.com‘s coverage of high school sports, but has put limits on the number of stories you can read.
  • The Connection family of newspapers has a sports section that is rarely updated, but it does do some coverage.
  • MaxPreps.com also has some non-paywall HS information that comes in handy too.
  • Nvdaily.com (Strasburg) has some results for some of the teams in the smaller conferences/outskirts of DC, generally in the Strasburg area.
  • WinchesterStar (Winchester) has results for Winchester teams but its pay-only.
  • The Daily Progress (Culpeper local paper) also has some scores for schools in its areas.
  • Fredericksburg.com has some local coverage of Fredericksburg and Woodbridge teams.
  • Richmond Times-Dispatch has a HS scoreboard.
  • Hampton Roads Pilot (Hampton Roads) has scores for teams in the Chesapeake/Norfolk/Va Beach area.
  • The Baltimore Sun’s high school page has information on some of the programs outside the DC area mentioned in the Maryland section
  • I use perfectgame.org to look up high-end HS prospects.
  • VHSL’s and MPSSAA home pages for playoff brackets and updates for VA and MD respectively.

 

Written by Todd Boss

May 28th, 2015 at 9:04 am

Posted in Local Baseball

Tagged with , , , ,

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8 Responses to 'Prep Baseball Update 2015: Maryland State Champs, Northern VA District Champs crowned'

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  1. Todd, I enjoy reading your HS and college recaps even though I don’t have much to add. I had seen a story on the Battlefield forfeit. While I feel terrible for the kids, innings limits have been around for a long time, so it’s very hard to believe that the Battlefield coaches didn’t know they were flaunting the rule. The AD’s comment in the story that they just “got caught up” in what Agnos was doing strikes me as hogwash. Usually in those situations, the whole bench knows that “Jake can only go six tonight.” The team knows it. Most of the parents know it. Often the other team knows it . . . and apparently did in this case.

    The fact that the kid threw 213 pitches in a week is horrifying but often not that uncommon in the amateur levels, although colleges seem to have done better recently at dialing back the pitch counts. If Giolito threw 213 pitches in a week, though, the whole Potomac coaching staff would be looking for new lines of employment!

    KW

    29 May 15 at 10:02 am

  2. You know, these HS and College posts are basically non-starters among normal readers. I post them because i’m deeply interested in following the tournaments and, well while doing the research for my own interest I turn them into posts.

    I didn’t see the 213 pitch number, just that he was “over 7 innings for the week.” 213 in a week is … well that sounds like a lot. But is it? If you pitch sunday and go (say) 110 pitches, then have 5 days rest and throw another start saturday and go 103 pitches … that’s 213 in “7 days.” Research i’ve seen shows that by the time a kid is 18, he’s nearly to the point of arm maturity where he’ll be even as an adult. Can’t find a link but the pitch count recommendations for an 18 yr old aren’t really that far off from a 27yr old fully developed adult. 100-110 for a 18 yr old, 110-120 for an adult before you start to see regression. That’s only 10 more pitches.

    I dunno. 213 pitches in one outing is ridiculous (and has happened recently). 213 pitches in a weekend series is a fireable offense. In a week long tournament? borderline abuse. With normal rest? i dunno.

    Todd Boss

    29 May 15 at 11:08 am

  3. Followup on the Battlefield pitcher: check this out:

    http://usatodayhss.com/2015/virginia-pitcher-strikes-out-21-straight-batters-in-win-is-then-forced-to-forfeit

    the coaches said he was under the weekly pitch limit, but one inning over the innings limit, which is what VHSL went by. That doesn’t sound that egregious.

    Todd Boss

    29 May 15 at 12:07 pm

  4. It sounds like the team isn’t completely out of the tournament, though, which is all that really matters.

    I know how controversial the pitch limits are, and how pushy many coaches can be, as they ride their star as far as he’ll take them. College kids were regularly throwing 140-50 pitches a game up through the ’90s. Who knows how many arms they ruined in the process. Kids are throwing harder now, and TJ’s are epidemic. I wonder what kind of pitch counts Giolito had in HS as a closely watched hot commodity, playing on the field of the college (UCLA) to which he had committed. And he still blew out.

    Rey Lopez hasn’t, and he’s 21 years old and throws 98. And he’s only been allowed to pitch 19.2 innings over four starts. I was just quizzing Luke this morning about what has become of Lopez, since he hasn’t started since he got roughed up last Friday, but he’s slated to start tomorrow (Sat.), with Giolito on Sunday.

    KW

    29 May 15 at 12:30 pm

  5. Yeah Battlefield is still in the Regionals … but they got a complete screw job on the seeding; they have to go to Oakton, who I think is a favorite to win it. Had this not happened, they’d have had a much easier draw. Of course, that being said if they get by Oakton I think they can beat the winner of Lake Braddock/Southlakes, meaning they’d be in the regional semis anyway. We’ll see.

    I’m guessing these uber high profile guys like Giolito and Strasburg, as amateurs< basically are not messed with, since it'd be national news the moment they got abused. You can thank twitter-nation for that and a country of "hot takes."

    Todd Boss

    29 May 15 at 3:04 pm

  6. Well, Stras was 1-10 as a high school junior, so I’m not sure that he was too hyped at that point. He was better as a senior but not drafted and not offered a scholarship by Stanford, which is where he apparently wanted to go, and showed up at SD State overweight, which is hard to imagine looking at him now. He seemed to thrive more when he was the underdog and when people doubted him. He seems to have worked himself back in that hole again . . .

    KW

    29 May 15 at 4:10 pm

  7. Great point on Stras. I guess I was remembering the way Gwynn handled him at SDSU .. high profile, no abuse.

    Follow-up on Agnos from Battlefield; he started last night against Oakton and struck out 13 in 6-innings. So, to recap, in his last 13 innings pitched he has THIRTY FOUR strikeouts. In playoff games against good competition (I thought Oakton was the favorite to win the regional). More coming in the recap later next week.

    Todd Boss

    30 May 15 at 12:37 pm

  8. Another quick follow up on Agnos: he threw 8 innings last night in the regional semis and lost. Another 14 Ks. So, if we’re counting, that’s 48 strikeouts in his last 21 innings pitched, two of those games against the best teams in the area in Oakton and madison.

    Todd Boss

    4 Jun 15 at 8:57 am

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