6A State Championship Preview:

These games will be played at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax on Saturday, June 14 with the winners meeting in the Championship game at Robinson on Sunday, June 15, at 5:00 pm.

McLean vs. Western Branch, 3:00 pm

McLean has been the Cinderella story of 6A this postseason, finishing 7^th in their conference in the regular season before storming through the conference playoffs to earn a regional bid and then upsetting heavy favorites Oakton, Battlefield, and James Madison before finally running out of steam against Chantilly. The Highlanders have been led through the playoffs on the mound by Joey Sullivan (Virginia Tech) and Collin Morse. Sullivan, Caleb Beatty, and Connor Grammes have paced the offense.

Western Branch is the Monitor-Merrimac Conference and South Region champs. The Bruins are 24-2 on the year and have given up one run or fewer 14 times on the season. The Bruins staff is led by Zach Rutherford (ODU) and their offense is strong from top to bottom, with Justin Hayes (ODU), Grant Maiorana (VT), Rutherford, Devon Fisher (UVA), Kyle McPherson (JMU), Matthew Roth (Radford), and Kyle Butler (Radford) all continuing their playing careers after high school. Western Branch handed Cosby its first loss of the season in the South Region championship game with a dominant 8-1 win.

Cosby vs. Chantilly, 7:00 pm

Chantilly is the Concord Conference runner-up and the Northern Region champion, having relied on dominant pitching and outstanding defense to storm through an upset-filled Northern Region tournament. The Chargers allowed a total of one run in their Region tournament victories and have been led by senior two-way player Eason Recto (Cornell) and Mike Sciorra (JMU), and the development of sophomore power hitter Jared DiCesare.

Cosby suffered their first loss of the season in the Southern Region championship game to Western Branch. The Titans are led by an extremely talented group of seniors who will play ball in college next year, including Ryan Hall (William and Mary), Bradley McKay (JMU), Riley Wilson (UVA), Tyler Fitzgerald (VT), Jason Ciucci (Longwood), Nathan Kersey (Longwood), and Hunter Williams (UNC). Junior Jake Huggins (VMI) is also committed and is a major contributor for the Titans. Cosby is a very strong club all around and will be extremely dangerous in this tournament.