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Welcome to our 2019 VHSL Previews. In each preview, we will give you a brief recap of the 2018 season along with the breakdown of each Region and what the rules are to qualify for postseason play under the current alignment. We will also highlight the top prospects in each Classification, as well as some teams to watch during the 2019 season. We continue our VHSL Previews for the 2019 season by taking a look at Class 3.

2018 saw Spotsylvania capture the State Championship, defeating preseason favorite and Region D champion Abingdon to bring the crown home and cap off of what was a stellar season and build off of their 2017 State Runners-up performance. While Spotsy won the State Title, rival Brentsville was the Region B champ and reached the State semifinals themselves. Winning Region A was Hopewell and the Region C champion was Fluvanna County. Also making State Tournament appearances in 2018 were York, Western Albemarle, and Northside.

 

Top Prospects in Class 3

Name	School	Class	Position	Commitment
Zalen Akers	Christiansburg	2019	1B	King
Brian Baker	Spotsylvania	2019	RHP	Washington (MD)
Alexander Balisteri	Rockbridge County	2020	SS
Tanner Barrs	Abingdon	2019	1B/RHP	Radford
Sam Beard	Brentsville	2019	C
Aidan Brown	Staunton River	2021	OF
Hunter Brown	Brookville	2020	3B
Grayson Bush	Monticello	2020	SS
Jalen Buster	Cave Spring	2020	SS	Radford
Haden Crowder	Colonial Heights	2019	OF	Chowan
Chase Davis	Brookville	2020	2B
Jake DeLisi	Brentsville	2019	SS/RHP	King
Vincent DiMauro	Brentsville	2020	RHP
Jake Dudley	Culpeper	2019	RHP/3B	Harford CC
Brock Duff	Brookville	2021	RHP
Kyle Fields	Rustburg	2022	RHP
Nathan Fink	Western Albemarle	2022	RHP	Virginia
Connor Fuhrman	Lord Botetourt	2022	OF	South Carolina
Nick Funk	Stauntaon River	2019	C	Concord
Sean Gibbons	Hidden Valley	2020	LHP	Longwood
Jared Glinski	Brookville	2020	C/OF
Nick Griffin	Turner Ashby	2020	RHP
Nicholas Hess	Colonial Heights	2021	RHP/1B
Billy Hoad	Brentsville	2019	3B	Wilson College
Sam Horn	James Monroe	2019	1B/RHP	Shenandoah
Garret Huffman	Rockbridge County	2021	3B/RHP
Carter Johnson	Southampton	2019	3B	Randolph-Macon
Ricky Jones	Hopewell	2019	OF	Richmond
Ethan Ketron	Abingdon	2021	LHP/OF
Eli Lam	Spotswood	2019	SS/RHP
Nathaniel Mack	Tabb	2020	RHP
Reilly Owen	William Monroe	2019	RHP/OF
Caleb Pritchard	Cave Spring	2019	C	UVA-Wise
Jonathan Sexton	William Monroe	2019	C
Alex Seymour	Brentsville	2019	LHP/OF	Fairmont State
Tristan Shoemaker	Fort Defiance	2021	RHP/SS	Virginia
Bryce Suters	Broadway	2021	SS	James Madison
Bryce Turner	Broadway	2019	2B
Andrew Ward	Fluvanna County	2020	LHP
Kevin Ward	Fluvanna County	2020	RHP
Nicholas Willard	York	2020	RHP	Liberty
Eric Williams	Culpeper	2020	3B/RHP
Grant Wilson	Cave Spring	2019	3B	Radford

 

Region A

Colonial Heights	Hopewell
Lakeland	New Kent
Norcom	Park View-South Hill
Petersburg	Phoebus
Southampton	Tabb
Booker T. Washington	York

***All teams played in a 2018 Region A Tournament

Region A is an all-in Region that uses power points to seed a 12 team tournament. The top four seeds get byes into the quarterfinals. The spread of these teams across multiple Districts necessitates the use of power points instead of District finish, especially since most of these schools are in Districts with larger schools.

 

Region B

Northwestern	Other
Brentsville	Armstrong
Culpeper	Jefferson (Richmond)
Manassas Park	John Marshall
William Monroe	James Monroe
Skyline	Spotsylvania
Warren County	George Wythe (Richmond)

*Italicized teams played in a 2018 Region B Tournament

Region B will take its twelve teams and set up an eight team Region tournament. It will use power points to seed that tournament, with the top eight teams making the bracket. Power points will be calculated in the following manner, seven points for a win, eight for a win against a larger class school. Teams get three points for a loss and four points for a loss to a larger school.

 

Region C

Jefferson	Seminole	Valley
Fluvanna County	Brookville	Broadway
Monticello	Heritage (Lynchburg)	Fort Defiance
Western Albemarle	Liberty (Bedford)	Rockbridge County
	Rustburg	Spotswood
		Turner Ashby
		Waynesboro

*Italicized teams played in a 2018 Region C Tournament

Region C will have an eight team Region tournament going forward. The Valley District sends three teams and the Jefferson and Seminole District send two each to the Region. The eighth team is an at-large team from any of the Districts, determined by power points. 

 

Teams to Watch in 2019

Abingdon
The loaded Falcons finally got over the hump in 2018 and reached the State Tournament as the Region D champion. They reached the State Championship game before falling in extra innings to Spotsylvania. With the end of the campaign, Abingdon lost a ton of talent, including Kevin Christy (East Tennessee State), Cade Hungate (Florida State), and new Virginia all-time hits leader, Thomas Francisco (East Carolina), to graduation. Abingdon will still have some talent on the mound in 2019 as they do bring back First Team All-State arm Tanner Barrs (Radford) as well as talented sophomore Ethan Ketron.

Brentsville
The Tigers won the Region B Championship in 2018, defeating Spotsylvania in that game. A week later, Spotsy flipped the script on the Tigers, rallying to beat them in extra innings in the State Semifinals. Brentsville loses All-State two-way contributor Mason Posey (George Mason) and fellow All-State performer Garrett Cornell (King) to graduation, but the Tigers are going to be loaded because pretty much everyone else is back in 2019. Senior Sam Beard will be back behind the plate and Jake DeLisi (King) will be back at shortstop with fellow senior Billy Hoad (Wilson) will also be on the infield. DeLisi will join a junior Vincent DiMauro in what has a chance to be a deep rotation. Senior Alex Seymour (Fairmont State) offers some power in the middle of the lineup as well as being a lefty that can help out on the mound.

Brookville
The Bees made the Region C tournament in 2018 but were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Western Albemarle. They lose lefty Haydon Almond to graduation, but have a talented young core that will make them a sleeper to compete for a State Tournament berth in 2019. Juniors Jared Glinski, Hunter Brown, and Chase Davis form a potentially strong core to the lineup and sophomore Brock Duff has a chance to develop into an ace.

Cave Spring
The Knights reached the Region D semifinals in 2018, but fell to Northside and came up just short of a State Tournament bid. Cave Spring has some talent on the roster which will give the Knights the chance to get over the hump and into the State Tournament in 2019. The lineup will feature seniors Caleb Pritchard (UVA-Wise) and Grant Wilson (Radford) as well as junior Jalen Buster (Radford). Senior pitcher Connor Lewis is back to bring experience to the rotation as well.

Christiansburg
Christiansburg reached the Region D tournament in 2018 but ran into the buzzsaw that was Abingdon's offense in the first round, ending their run. Senior first baseman and pitcher Zalen Akers (King) will be back for the Blue Demons this spring as well as fellow All-District players Brady Kirtner and Reagan Harris. 

Colonial Heights
Colonial Heights lost a slugfest to eventual Region A champ Hopewell in the 2018 Region quarterfinals, bringing their season to a close. The Colonials have lost All-State infielder Brandon Pond (Lynchburg) to graduation, but they do bring back All-State outfielder Haden Crowder (Chowan) and have an interesting sophomore arm in Nicholas Hess who could begin to see an impact.

Fluvanna County
The Flucos won the Region C championship and advanced to the State Championship in 2018, andd a big key to their season was the emergence on the mound of brother aces LHP Andrew Ward and RHP Kevin Ward. That duo will be back to play their junior year this spring and will also be rejoined by 2018 All-State player Jacob Critzer. With that talent back, Fluvanna is easily among the preseason favorites in Region C in 2019.

Hopewell
The Blue Devils won the Region A championship in 2018 but were eliminated in the State Quarterfinals by eventual champion Spotsylvania. Hopewell got a spectacular season from centerfielder Ricky Jones (Richmond), who will be back in centerfield for his senior season this spring. Also back will be staff ace and Region Pitcher of the Year Brendan McComber as well as All-Region honoree Ryan Johnson who will provide thump again in the middle of the Blue Devil lineup. 

Northside
The Vikings entered the Region D tournament as the last seed, and then proceeded to pull stunning upsets of Tunstall and Cave Spring to finish as the Region D championship game and earn a State Tournament bid in 2018. The 2019 roster will be gutted by graduation, the Vikings lose All-State arm Evan Parks as well as most of their starters as they will look to build back towards another postseason run.

Staunton River
Staunton River reached the Region D tournament in 2018 but was knocked out in the quarterfinals. The Golden Eagles should return to the Region in 2019 and have an experienced lineup that will make them dangerous. Senior catcher Nick Funk (Concord) is back to anchor the middle of the lineup where he will be joined by juniors Eddie Blake and Colin Bates. Outfielders Turner Crouch and Aidan Brown will provide speed at the top of the lineup and cover a lot of real estate for Staunton River. Blake will lead the pitching staff for a team that is going to score some runs this spring.

Rockbridge County
The Wildcats reached the Region C tournament an were eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual Region champion Fluvanna. Senior middle infielder and pitcher Bryce Patterson will back for his fourth year in the lineup. Talented junior Alex Balisteri earned All-Region honors as a sophomore and Matt Nicely will be back again behind the plate. Look for talented two-way sophomore Garret Huffman will have a chance to contribute this spring.

Spotsylvania
The 2017 State Runners-up got over the hump to capture the 2018 State Championship in extra innings, defeating Abingdon in the title game. The Knights will lose a handful of key pieces off their championship team, including All-State seniors Eugene Snyder (Gardner-Webb), Jonathan Rivard (Virginia Tech), and State Player of the Year Max Harper (VMI). Spotsy will still have senior All-State honoree Evan Croson back this year as well as senior pitcher Brian Baker (Washington-MD) as they mount their title defense.

Turner Ashby
The Knights were the top seed in the Region C tournament in 2018 but were upset in the Region semifinals by Western Albemarle, ending their State Title defense. TA also lost Waring Garber and Tanner Moyers (Ferrum) to graduation. That all being said, at the end of every year, Turner Ashby is always in the mix, having won the 2017 State Championship and been to the State Tournament in 2016, the Knights have a habit of developing outstanding arms, and junior Nick Griffin is poised to be the next one to come through the program.

Western Albemarle
The Warriors entered the 2018 Region C tournament as the four seed, and an upset of top-seeded Turner Ashby sent them to a runner-up finish in the Region tournament and earned them a State Tournament trip. The Warriors' pitching staff has been gutted this offseason, lost Derek Domecq (Radford) and Luke Tenuta (Virginia Tech-football) to graduation as well as Garrett Payne (NC State) and Jack Masloff (VCU) to private schools. These vacancies should leave an opening for talented freshman Nathan Fink (Virginia) to get a shot to contribute.

William Monroe
The 2016 State Runners-up saw their 2018 season end just one game short of another State tournament trip as they were knocked out in a tight game by eventual State Champion Spotsylvania. The Green Dragons should be a factor again late in the season this spring as they bring back senior All-State honoree Jonathan Sexton as well as senior pitcher Reilly Owen.

York
The Falcons were the Region A runners-up in 2018 and advanced to the State Tournament. York loses Mark Evans (Hampden-Sydney) to graduation but has the potential to be strong on the mound this spring with the return of senior lefty Joseph O'Brien who should pair with junior Nicholas Willard (Liberty) to give the Falcons a solid one-two punch.

 

 

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