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By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting

Regional Semifinal day is one of the most important days on the Virginia public school schedule, as that is the day where teams around the Commonwealth punch their tickets to the State Tournaments, which will be held June 12 and June 13 this spring, at Radford University (1A and 2A), Liberty University (3A and 4A), and Robinson Secondary School (5A and 6A). Here are quick previews of this important match-ups.

6a north

+Centreville at No. 21 Chantilly, June 3, 6:30

Centreville entered the Regional tournament as the number four seed out of the Concorde Conference, having had to beat Robinson to clinch their regional berth before falling to Chantilly in the a tight semifinal game. The week off did wonders for the Wildcats, as their bats have come alive in the Regional tournament. Centreville was down to their last out against Patriot before scoring seven runs to win the game. The Wildcats then traveled to West Springfield and beat a quality Spartan squad, 10-5, to advance to the semifinals.

Chantilly is the defending 6A Northern Region champion was the State Runners-up last spring. The Chargers have followed up that campaign with another strong spring, winning the Concorde Conference by defeating rival Oakton in the Conference Championship Game. The Chargers have defeated Stonewall Jackson and South County in their first two regional games.

So far this season, Chantilly and Centreville have met three times, with Chantilly having won twice. All three games were decided by two runs or less, with the most recent game being a 2-0 Chantilly win that saw Matt Hogle (2015) outduel Carter Bach (2016) in a very crisp game that was dominated by both pitchers.

+No. 20 Battlefield at James Madison, June 3, 6:30

Battlefield has had a great season that saw them just miss claiming the Cedar Run Conference number 1 seed as they lost a one-game playoff to Patriot for the regular season conference championship. The Bobcats have defeated Oakton and South Lakes so far in the Regional tournament and will have lefty Jake Agnos (2016, East Carolina) lined up for this semifinal matchup. Agnos has dominated the entire season and even posted a 21-strikeout complete game in a forfeit loss 2 weeks ago, a result that cannot be ignored for how absurdly dominant the outing was. With Agnos on the mound and Tyler Solomon (2017, Vanderbilt) in the lineup, the Bobcats will be a tough opponent in this semifinal matchup.

James Madison is the Liberty Conference 6 Champions and have won six games in a row, including dominant victories over TC Williams and Herndon in their first two Regional matchups. The win over Herndon marked Madison’s 20^th win of the 2015 campaign. The Warhawks’ second round game was delayed until Tuesday night, meaning that lefty Matthew Favero (2016) will be unavailable. The Warhawk lineup is deep and is led by  Pete Nielsen (2016).

These two have already met once this spring, in a semifinal game of the Spring Break Mingo Bay Classic in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Madison won that game 10-1.

6a south

+Forest Park at No. 24 First Colonial, June 3, 4:00

Forest Park entered the postseason as the Conference 4 champions, putting things together down the stretch after an up and down regular season. The Bruins defeated Thomas Dale in the first round of the Regional Tournament behind a dominant performance on the mound by Trey Alderman.

First Colonial finished a strong spring 19-3 and were awarded the number 1 seed in the region as the Coastal Conference regular season champions. They had a tough draw in the first round of the Regional tournament, against No. 3 Grassfield, the Monitor-Merrimac tournament champion. The Patriots were equal to the task as Bodie Sheehan (William & Mary) threw a complete game.

+No. 5 Western Branch at No. 23 Cosby, June 3, 3:00

Western Branch is the defending 6A State Champions and have been ranked highly in the Prep Baseball Report VA/DC Power 25 Rankings all year. The Bruins drew Cox in the first round of the regional tournament and posted a dominant win for their twentieth victory of the season.

Cosby entered the Regional Tournament as the Conference 3 champion, defeating Franklin County and Thomas Dale in their Conference Tournament. The Titans drew Colonial Forge in their quarterfinal matchup, and won a great game 2-1 with a Christian Hague walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth inning.

5a north

+Mountain View at Stone Bridge, June 3, 5:00

Mountain View entered the tournament as the Conference 15 champions and received a first round bye. They received a tough test from Conference 16 runners-up Halifax County. Dylan Hall (2016, Virginia Tech) threw 8 innings of one-run ball and Mountain View rallied in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game before winning, 2-1, in the bottom of the ninth on a walk off fielder’s choice.

Stone Bridge is the Conference 14 champions, having swept through the Conference tournament with wins over Briar Woods and Broad Run. The Bulldogs are also the defending 5A North Region champions. Stone Bridge drew Conference 15 runners-up North Stafford in the first round. The game was halted after 5 batters on Monday and then completed Tuesday night. David Mocabee (2016) was outstanding on the mound as he finished the halted game and Michael Kuzbel (2015, Columbia) drove in the winning run in the bottom of the sixth with a sacrifice fly as the Bulldogs got by a tough Wolverine squad. Brett Kreyer (2016) will likely be on the mound for Stone Bridge in this game, and carries in a streak of three consecutive complete-game shutouts. 

+George C. Marshall vs TBD

Marshall is the Conference 13 champion and got off to a slow start this spring, going 1-4. Since then, the Statesmen have gone 18-1 down the stretch, including an 8-1 win against Potomac in the Regional quarterfinals that was powered by five RBI’s from Matt Borowski (2015, St. Bonaventure).

The Broad Run vs Patrick Henry game has been postponed twice and is currently scheduled to be played Wednesday afternoon. The winner will play Marshall.

5a south

+Quarterfinal games scheduled for Wednesday:

            ++Clover Hill leads Deep Run in the top of 6th

4a north

+Jefferson Forest at Amherst, June 3, 6:00          

Jefferson Forest entered the tournament as the Conference 24 champions, posting a 15-8 regular season record. The Cavaliers drew Eastern View in the first round of the Regional Tournament and won, 3-2, as Cody Whitten drove in two runs and scored the third for Jefferson Forest.          

Amherst County is the Conference 23 champions and have been dominant for most of the season, entering the tournament with a 17-3 record. The Lancers drew Cinderella Sherando, who upset Millbrook in the Conference 21 semifinals to earn a tournament berth, in the first round of the Regionals and fell behind early in the game. Amherst had cut their deficit to 4-3 on Monday night when the game was suspended in the middle of the fifth inning. Once the game was restarted on Tuesday, the Lancers quickly scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, and went on to win 7-4. Nathan Trevillian (2015, Liberty) started the game on Monday, so it is doubtful that he is available for the Lancers during this game.           

Jefferson Forest and Amherst have met twice already this season and have split their home-and-home season, with JF winning a shootout at home in April, 13-12.  Amherst won the second meeting, another tight game, 8-5, in early May.

+Faquier vs TBD, June 4, 6:00           

Faquier is the Conference 22 champion and entered the Regional tournament as a number 1 seed. The Falcons drew E.C. Glass in the first round and took a 6-2 lead into the top of the seventh inning before Glass rallied to tie the game. The Falcons then scored in the bottom of the seventh to walk off to the semifinals.           

The Harrisonburg vs Woodgrove game has been postponed twice and is currently scheduled to be played Wednesday evening. The winner will play Faquier.

4a south

+No. 9 Hanover at Grafton, June 3, 6:00           

Hanover has won State Championships each of the last two years, the old AAA in 2013 and the new 4A in 2014. The Hawks received the two seed from Conference 20 heading into the Regional playoffs and immediately drew a very tough test, No. 12 Nansemond River, whom they had lost to earlier in the season. The Hawks scored six runs in the top of the first inning and cruised to victory and a Regional Semifinal date. Cayman Richardson (2016, Virginia) paced the offense in the first round and John Gregory (2016, Richmond) threw five scoreless innings. The Hawks have plenty of good options left on their pitching staff, and will send either Grey Lyttle (2016), Jacob Weis (2016, Richmond), or Jack Dragum (2018, Virginia) to the mound.          

Grafton is the Conference 19 champions and entered the tournament having won six of seven down the stretch. The Clippers drew Deep Creek in the first round of the Regional tournament and won a tight, 5-4 game late. Evan Sperling (2015, Virginia) drove in the winning run and is lined up to pitch in what should be a stellar matchup on the mound.

+Powhatan vs TBD           

Powhatan finished as the Conference 19 runners-up after upsetting No. 25 Jamestown in the Conference semifinals, 5-2. The Indians drew Conference 20 one seed Churchland in the first round of the Regional tournament and posted a dominant win to advance to the 4A South semifinals.           

The Denbigh vs No. 9 Glen Allen game has been postponed twice and is currently scheduled to be played Wednesday afternoon. The winner will play Powhatan.