4A East who?

Hanover travels to Charlottesville today for a matchup against St. Anne's-Belfield (STAB).

Both teams have solid D1 commits and signees. Not sure who's starting but a Grey Lyttle (Hanover) vs.  Bobby Nicholson (STAB) pitching match up could be interesting. Both are highly decorated seniors with big game experience. Both have good 4 pitch command and work in the high 80's to low/mid 90's range.

Will be interesting to see the outcome. I'm a big fan of a nice pitchers duel.  

Tolson does not go to Hanover anymore...transferred.  They are still loaded though.

I've seen one game each for Monacan, Powhatan and Midlothian.  Of those three, I think Monacan is the stronger.  Their lineup runs deeper with quality bats.  Josh Barber looked to me to be the best arm from among the three teams, plus Joey Crute is a proven starter as well.

Powhatan's best hitter looks to be a sophomore, which bodes well for the future but at this point that guy is more of a doubles machine than a HR threat.  As comparisons, Midlothian's Grant Keller started the season on fire yesterday but got very little help.  Monacan's Aaron Robinson may lag Keller at season's end in batting average but the two should have a nice race for the HR title in that conference.  Robinson is a wrists guy, Keller has great hip turn power.  Both hit huge bombs in their first games, in fact Robinson hit 2.  I give the edge to Monacan because they look like they can score even from the bottom of the order.

Hanover 22 - STAB 0 in 5 innings

Lyttle pitched 3 innings with 6 K's. STAB pitched six or seven different  pitchers. Nicholson was injured.

I don't care if it was handled like a scrimmage, that's an astonishing score.

BTW, Monacan sophomore Hunter Andrews chimed in with a game-winning, 7th inning grand slam to beat Midlothian yesterday.  Midlothian had been 3-0 before the loss.  Keep your eyes on the Chiefs!

GoHeels posted:

Hanover...followed by the Hanover JV team. 

On a slightly more serious note:  Great Bridge should walk through Conference 17.  Who comes in second is simply a best guess.  I'll let someone else try that one. 

The new Conference 18 is fairly compelling.  Denbigh has been young the last couple of years, Grafton is always solid, along with Jamestown and the rest.  I'll go with Jamestown to win it.  Again, No. 2 is up for grabs. 

Conference 19, I know nothing about, other than Eastern View has typically been a solid program. 

Conference 20, the Regional Championship and the State Championship are Hanover's to lose as far as I can tell.  I don't pretend to know what's out there in the rest of the state, but I do know what they have.  They're loaded!

 

 

We used the same joke about 5/6 years ago at GB.  Overall I think your outlook is correct.  Hanover would appear to be a heavy favorite. 

The thing is that in the State Format with 1 and done all it takes is one good pitcher a walk, a blast and a bunt and you can be on the wrong end of a 2-1 game just like what happened in 2013.

Any idea what was wrong with Nicholson?

Am I right in thinking that Hanover has now played three games, but has yet to allow a single run?

Leaving aside the pitching quality, that doesn't happen without sound defense as well.

First two were slaughters, but yesterday they won a 2-0 game.  So even when the offense might get stifled, they win.

One thing for sure, you can't lose if the other team never scores.  Worst case, extra innings!

If newspaper reports are accurate (add grain of salt here), they've pitched 17 innings and allowed 3 hits.  I think Lyttle has a total of 8 innings, Dragum 7, and I forget who mopped up game 2.

Midlo,

You are correct...... Lyttle 8, Dragum 6, Morgan 1, Balducci 1, Moore 1....  17 innings and no walks.

HHSHawk posted:

Midlo,

You are correct...... Lyttle 8, Dragum 6, Morgan 1, Balducci 1, Moore 1....  17 innings and no walks.

Now it's Lyttle 8, Dragum 6, Moore 5, Morgan 1, Balducci 1, Gregory 1......22 innings, no walks and 1 unearned run. 

Tonight's score Hanover 11 - Varina 1. Hanover is 4-0 and scored 45 runs. Stiff wind blowing  in at Hanover tonight. Lyttle missed out on what would have been his 2nd grand slam of the season by about 4".  Big shot to left center that got blown back in....settled for a triple. Hawks are looking solid.

Well, 3 hits and 1 run allowed, I guess they aren't all that after all! 

Don't forget bout the West. LC has hess. Millbrook has 4 d1 with another getting looks pitching wise. Loudoun Valley was a deep team too last year and now 4a. If you win 4a pretty nice accomplishment I would say....

Millbrook has a shutout going through 4 games with two run rules so far..... and aren't hitting yet. 35-0 scoring.

Lots of talent in the Commonwealth this year across all classifications. 4a seems to have lots and lots of solid ball players. Playoff time should be must see tv in 4a this year.