Nationals Arm Race

Update #3 for DC/MD/VA Prep baseball for 2017.

Here’s the rough schedule of posting and what we’ll cover:

• #1: DC/MD/VA District High School Tournament Report: post-season kickoff.  Covers: MD regionals, VA district brackets, Private school tourney updates.  Usually publishes the week before Memorial day tournament finals.
• #2: Maryland State Champs, Northern VA Regional Champs crowned.  Covers: MD state finals, VA regionals finals.  Usually publishes first week of June.
  #3: Virginia State Champions crowned (this post) .  Covers: VA state tourneys, recaps MD, DC, Private School results.  Publishes mid-June once the Va state tourney wraps up.
• #4: Players of the Year/All-State lists and final rankings; publishes early July once all the all-state lists are published.
• #5: final post with all content in one place, plus my Ficticious tournament of Champs

Lost in the shuffle of last week’s Draft and CWS regionals was the Virginia state finals.  This post is more than a week old now, but here’s a rundown of the Virginia finals.

---

Virginia State tourney match-ups and tourney locations

All the state tourneys ran from June 8th-10th at the various sites.  All state brackets available from this link at VHSL, and the district and regional brackets are here.

Semifinals and Finals:
1A/2A – Spring Jubilee at Radford, Virginia Tech, June 8-10
3A/4A – Spring Jubilee at Salem, June 9-10
5A/6A– Spring Jubilee at James Robinson/Westfield, June 9-10

 

---

6-A State Finals: held at Robinson and Westfield HS in Northern Virginia.

• 6-A North Winner Oakton, runner-up Patriot
• 6-A South Winner Cox, runner-up Western Branch

6-A State Semis Results:  Both North Regional teams fell short in the state-semis; Oakton lost to Western Branch 3-0, while Patriot lost to a solid Cox team 4-1.  Oakton finishes the year 19-8, Patriot 21-4.

6-A State Final: Western Branch got revenge on Cox for the Regional final, winning 6-4 for their 2nd state championship in four years.

 

---

5-A State Finals: held at Robinson and Westfield HS in Northern Virginia.

• 5-A North Winner Briar Woods, runner-up Halifax
• 5-A South Winner Prince George, runner-up Menchville.

5-A State Semis Results:  Briar Woods kept up its great post-season run, topping Menchville 6-1 to earn a state final bid.  Halifax threw state player of the year Andrew Abbott, who threw a 2-hitter to shut down the top team in the state Prince George and lead his team to a regional rematch in the state title game.

5-A State Final: Briar Woods 5 Halifax 4 in 14 grueling innings on a hot saturday.  Great run for Briar Woods in the 2017 post-season.

 

---

4-A State Finals: held in Salem, VA.

• 4-A East Winner Hanover, runner-up Great Bridge
• 4-A West Winner Liberty Christian Academy, runner up Harrisonburg

4-A State Semis Results:  In a result that even the Richmond-Times had to explain, Hanover defeated Harrisonburg HS 31-3.  Thirty One runs.   In the other state semi, Liberty Christian eased past Great Bridge 7-4 to setup a rematch of last year’s ridiculously epic 13-12 4A State final.

The 4-A final wasn’t nearly as amazing as last year’s game; Liberty Christian Academy defeated Hanover 8-5 to take the title.

 

---

3-A State Finals: held in Salem, VA.

• 3-A East Winner Riverside runner-up Spotsylvania
• 3-A West Winner: Turner Ashby, runner-up Brookville

3-A State Semis Results: 2nd year program Riverside continues to impress, destroying Brookville 18-6 to earn a state title berth.  Turner Ashby took the other state semi final over Spotsylvania.

In the final between Riverside/Turner Ashby, Riverside’s run came to an end with a 14-3 demolition by 3A champs Turner Ashby.

 

---

Smaller Classifications: held at Radford & Va Tech.

• 2-A match-ups: Both 2A West teams won their semis, with Dan River beating Madison County and John Battle beating Goochland.  In the final, Dan River 5, John Battle 4.
• 1-A match-ups:  Both regional runners-up upset regional champs in the semis, with Stonewall Jackson and Auburn HS advancing to the final.  Auburn 6 Stonewall Jackson 0 in the final.

---

Recent Virginia HS champs:  Before 2014, we just AAA, AA and A; now we have 1-A through 6-A.  For next season (2018 for baseball) they’re re-doing the classifications again, changing up teams in divisions and regions but keeping the six classifications.  I don’t see any of the big-time 4A teams (Great Bridge,  Hanover, Liberty Christian) moving up though.

2016: See this post for 2016’s state tournament wrap-up for all 6 divisions

• In 6-A, Chantilly d Battlefield 3-2.  Hylton & Cosby state semis.
• In 5-A, Nansemond River defeated Mountain View 5-3.  Potomac, Mills Godwin semi finalists.
• In 4-A, Hanover d Liberty Christian Academy 13-12.  Jamestown, Kettle Run semi finalists.
• In the smaller classifications, Rustberg repeated 3-A, Maggie Walker won in 2-A and Rappahannock won 1-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.

---

 

That wraps up Virginia, the last local state to play its tourneys.  Next post we’ll publish all the all-state/all-region accolades that come out this time of year.