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By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting/Content Management 



Maggie Walker
The 2A East and Conference 33 Champions enter the State Tournament with a 13-8 overall record, partly due to a non-conference schedule that featured some of Richmond’s big schools. The Green Dragons swept 5A opponent J.R. Tucker and also beat Madison County and Goochland en route to the Region Championship, avenging an earlier season loss to Goochland.

The Green Dragons have had four pitchers with significant innings throw well this spring, making them adequately deep for the possibility of playing on back to back days. Matthew Pinson leads the team in wins with four and Frankie Celentano, Nathan Berry, and Matthew Haines all have ERAs under 2.

Maggie Walker’s offense this spring has been led by Matthew Pinson, who enters the tournament hitting over .400. Forrest Smith (William & Mary) has provided power in the middle of the lineup and Matthew Haines and Nathan Berry have also had strong seasons. The outfield defense has been greatly helped by Tommy Snead’s move out there.

Grayson County
Grayson County was the Conference 39 regular season champions and enters the State Tournament with a record of 20-5. Grayson County has to be happy to not be facing Conference rival Virginia in the first game, as three of their losses this spring are to the Bearcats. The Blue Devils’ biggest win on the season so far is probably their Region semifinal win over Randolph Henry and their offense has been key all season, to beat them, you have to score.

Virginia
Virginia is the two-time defending 2A State Champions and the 2A West champions for third year in a row. The Bearcats are poised to make it three State Titles in a row as well. The season did seem to be headed in a different direction at its midpoint as Virginia was 7-8 overall, before embarking on the eleven game winning streak that they are riding into Salem on, running their overall record to 18-8. The Bearcats have picked up some big wins in that stretch, including two wins over Grayson County, a win over Abingdon, and another over Lebanon. 

Virginia’s pitching staff has been led by junior Brayden Rawson, who has nine wins this spring. The lineup has been anchored by Clay Malcolm and Derek Gilbert. Catcher Aaron Rose has had a breakout season and become a big part of the Bearcats’ success.

Goochland
Goochland is the 2A East runners-up and the Conference 34 Champions. The Bulldogs have some big wins, having beaten 2A East champion Maggie Walker earlier in the season, as well as defeating VISAA opponent Benedictine en route to piling up a 20-4 overall record. Five Bulldogs were named to the All-2A East Region team. 

The story of the Bulldogs’ season has been a story of dominant pitching. Goochland’s staff is led by senior Coleman Duty, junior Tanner Bradshaw, and Nick Norman. Bradshaw leads the staff with seven wins and Duty leads in the strikeout column, with 58 in his 41 2/3 IP this spring. To give a clue as to how dominant these three have been, Duty has the worst ERA of the trio at 1.01.

Even with all of that pitching, the Bulldog offense shouldn’t be slept on. Bradshaw has five home runs and leads the team with 37 RBIs. Duty, Jeb Anderson, Andrew Harcum, and Reid Chenault are all hitting over .400. Scott Carter is leading the team in stolen bases with Harcum hot on his heals as well. Anderson in particular has a had a good season, solidifying the outfield defense as well as contributing a lot with his bat, leading the team with a .481 average.

Our Staff Picks:
Sammy Serrano: Maggie Walker
Jon Kaufman: Virginia

John Nolan: It's very tough to pick against the defending champions, but I think Duty will give Virginia a handful and we will see a rematch of the 2A East final for the Championship, with Goochland defeating Maggie Walker.

What you thought:

Who do you think will be the #2AStates Champion? @vhsbearcats @goochbaseball

— PBR Virginia/DC (@PBRVirginiaDC) June 6, 2016