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Over the coming months, Prep Baseball Report Virginia/DC will take a look back at the 2015 season for each school that finished the spring in the final 2015 Power 25. In each article, we will not only recap the successful seasons of these 40 schools, but highlight the individuals who drove that success and preview what the outlook is for each team in 2016.

20. Virginia high bearcats

 

+Season Recap:
Virginia High School won the 2014 2A State Championship and graduated the majority of their starters from that team, making their path to defend their championship a tough one. The Bearcats made an early statement at the Mingo Bay Tournament in Myrtle Beach, going 3-1 with wins over three big schools and only losing to the 18th ranked team in the country at that time, Homewood, Alabama. The Bearcats built off of that momentum and went on to win the Clinch Mountain Conference, the 2A West Region, and repeat as the 2A State Champions while finishing with a 26-2 overall record in 2015.

+Key Performers:
+Alex Griffith: (C, 2015, Pittsburg) Griffith had a tremendous defensive season behind the plate and was no slouch at the plate hitting .456 for the season with five home runs and 18 doubles while driving in 33 runs. Griffith was named First Team All 2A State.

+Austin Ray: (RHP, 2015, Carson Newman) Ray was also named First Team All 2A State and went 13-0 on the season, including the win in the State Championship game. Ray finished his high school career with an impressive 35-0 record.

+2016 Outlook:
Virginia High will look for the three-peat this spring as they only lost four seniors to graduation off of their 2015 team. The Bearcats will have a tough time replacing Ray’s dominance and Griffith’s leadership and two-way production. Virginia does have five seniors returning and a talented core of young players with which to defend their title with.