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By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting

Postseason baseball continues to wind towards its culmination on Championship Saturday as all but one Regional tournament was completed last week. Rain wreaked havoc with Regional play throughout the Commonwealth last week as many games were delayed, halted, and moved to neutral sites. The rain had such an impact on play that VHSL approved Sunday play for the completion Regional Championship games.

No. 2 Hickory remains the top-ranked public school in the penultimate Power 25 of 2015. The Hawks won the 5A South Regional Championship on Sunday evening, capping off a week that saw them beat Princess Anne courtesy of an eight run second inning that was capped off by a Mikey Polansky (2017, Virginia Tech) grand slam. Hickory defeated Menchville in the semifinals as Cody Schneider (2016, Radford) homered and Connor Eason (2015, Virginia) picked up the win.

The Hawks then faced No. 14 Douglas Freeman, which advanced to the finals after Clover Hill forfeited its semifinal victory for violating the VHSL Pitching Rest Regulation. The game was a rematch of last year’s 5A South Region Championship game and 5A State Championship game. Freeman won the Region last year and Hickory won the State Championship. On Sunday, the game was tight through four innings before Hickory scored six runs in the fifth on the way to winning 11-4. Dylan Hudson’s (2016) three-run triple keyed the rally for Hickory.

Both Hickory and Douglas Freeman will advance to Friday’s 5A State Tournament, which will be hosted by Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax. Hickory will face George C. Marshall, and Freeman will face No. 24 Stone Bridge, which re-entered the rankings this week after winning the 5A North Regional Championship. The Bulldogs capped off a strong season with tough wins over North Stafford and Mountain View before defeating Marshall in Saturday’s Championship game.

Western Branch moved up to No. 3 after winning the 6A South Championship over No. 10 First Colonial. The Bruins beat Cox and Cosby handily before rallying in the bottom of the seventh inning to win their second straight 6A South Championship. First Colonial made the championship game by beating No. 11 Grassfield on strength of Bodie Sheehan’s (William & Mary) arm and squeaking by a surging Forest Park squad. Sheehan was very good again on Sunday night, but it was not enough to beat Western Branch. Both teams advance to next week’s State Tournament in Fairfax, where Western Branch will look to defend is 6A State Championship.

First Colonial will draw No. 20 James Madison, which returns to the rankings this week after winning the 6A North Region Championship. The Warhawks outlasted another spectacular Jake Agnos (2016, East Carolina) performance in the semifinals to beat No. 21 Battlefield in 9 innings before beating No. 22 Chantilly in the championship game. The Chargers will play Western Branch in the State Tournament next week.

Glen Allen enters the Top 5 after they won the 4A South Regional Championship game in dominant fashion over No. 12 Hanover. The Jaguars had to deal with numerous headaches due to the weather this week, and even had to move home games to Pitt Field at the University of Richmond to get them in. Hanover will return to the State Tournament next weekend, where the Hawks will look to win their third straight State Championship.

The 3A playoffs were disrupted so severely by last week’s rain that the 3A East still has not played its Regional Championship game, which will take place on Tuesday and features No. 8 Loudon Valley and Lafayette. Loudoun Valley is the defending 3A Champions and are coming off of a Regional semifinal victory over then-undefeated No. 9 Colonial Heights. The Vikings fell behind 4-0 in the fourth before rallying to force extra innings. Andrew Lohr (2015) shut the door on the mound and had a solid day at the plate, helping to set the stage for Hunter Gore’s (2016) monstrous three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning that propelled the Vikings to Lynchburg.

Entering the rankings for the first time this week are Strasburg and Virginia, which are tied at No. 25. Strasburg won the 2A East Region Championship, defeating Maggie Walker on Saturday night to lock up the title. Virginia is the defending 2A State Champion and dominated the 2A West Regional tournament, scoring 32 runs in their three victories.

Dropping out of the rankings this week were Glenvar, Amherst County, Jamestown, and Cosby. Glenvar was upset in the first round of the 2A West Tournament by Appomattox, ending their season. Amherst County survived a first round game with Sherando that was played over two days before falling in the 4A North semifinals to Jefferson Forest. Cosby won a tight first round game over Colonial Forge before Western Branch ended their season in the Regional semifinals.

The staff of Prep Baseball Report VA/DC determines the Power 25 rankings. Records indicated are through games on June 7.

To view the complete Power 25 Rankings, including the teams that are also being considered, CLICK HERE.