As the season closes, here is the last of the listings courtesy of VirginiaPreps.com. Congrats to all the boys that made the listing.
Thanks to their VirginiaPreps.com coverage of Virginia High School baseball. Nice job guys.
http://virginiapreps.rivals.co...tent.asp?CID=1516827
VirginiaPreps.com proudly presents its annual Group AAA All-State Baseball Team. Before we get to the selections for 2013, here's some insight into the process by which we choose the team. First, each member of the VirginiaPreps baseball staff takes into account all available relevant information. This information includes statistics, the various all-region and all-state teams, nominations from coaches, etc.
Secondly, it's important to remember that this team is based on the players' high school baseball season performance, including playoffs, if applicable. In other words, these are not pure talent evaluations (although these are all certainly top-level players). Our player rankings (linked near the bottom of this article) are a measure of college and/or pro potential. The All-State and All-Underclass teams, on the other hand, are more a reflection of on-field performance during the year, taking into account the factors and information listed above.
The net result of our All-State deliberative process is the team you see below. We hold ourselves to a very strict format that includes no shortcuts. We have one player at each of the eight normal field positions, one DH, two pitchers, and one utility man. The one luxury we afford ourselves is to use the DH spot for a really good hitter who may not fit in elsewhere when we have a particular position that has two (or in the case of outfielders, four) terrific candidates.
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| Will Garlick | |
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| Andre Scrubb hit .395 with 23 RBI and went 6-2 with a 1.57 ERA |
We always have difficult calls to make, and, unquestionably, that was the case this season as well. Second base was a difficult choice between Andrew Saunders of Manchester and Joey Bartosic of Oakton. Both had super years. The outfield was extremely crowded, with at least six players who were in the conversation for one of the three spots. Pitcher is usually one of the more difficult spots, but I think we did a good job of capturing the best in the state, as Connor Jones, Derek Casey, and Blake Bivens each made the team. Bivens took the utility spot, which meant that deserving candidates like the multi-talented Andre Scrubb of C. D. Hylton, Daniel Overbeek of Yorktown, and Jack Roberts of James River (also a candidate at pitcher) just missed.
Although we hold ourselves to the strict standard I mentioned a moment ago, that doesn't mean we're not creative: Brit Dunnavant made the Coaches' All-State team as a designated hitter. However, Dunnavant's natural position is outfielder. He was sidelined with an arm injury for part of the year, but he still made all-district as both an outfielder and as a DH. We treated him as an outfielder for our purposes, then used the DH spot to make sure Northwest Region Player of the Year Nick Feight and Hanover's Keith Searles, both catchers, could each make the team.
Searles, like teammate Derek Casey, only made honorable mention for the coaches. We disagreed, taking into account the superlative state tournaments each had: Searles had a two-homer, five-RBI game that propelled the Hawks to a win in the semi-finals, then went 2-for-3 in the title game. Casey, of course, picked up two wins and a save in the three games of the tournament, allowing just one run in 14 innings pitched.
A noteworthy feature of this year's team is that, despite the junior-heavy contingent of the 2012 All-State squad, there were few repeat selections in 2013. That speaks to the depth of talent we're blessed to have here in Virginia.
One final thing to keep in mind - Our honorable mention selections aren't a "third team." We have no second team. Think of honorable mention selections as players who have had outstanding seasons, but just barely missed first team because of positional issues. All of them deserve this special recognition. The message we're trying to get across is, "These guys are also all-state caliber players."
Here's the 2013 edition of the VirginiaPreps.com Group AAA All-State Baseball team:
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Catcher: Keith Searles (Hanover), Senior - The Capital District POY and future Randolph-Macon Yellow Jacket tormented opposing pitching all season, finished with a batting average over .500 with a massive total of 42 RBI to go along with nine doubles and five homers. His offensive output during the state tournament was a big reason the Hawks took home the title.
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First Base: Tyler Tharp (Kempsville), Senior - A throwback to some of the many excellent players that have fueled the Chiefs' rich baseball tradition, Tharp hit .468 with five homers and 26 RBI and was a first-team selection on the coaches' All-State team. He also stole six bases and scored 16 runs. He's headed to VMI.
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Second Base: Joey Bartosic (Oakton), Senior - The slick-fielding Bartosic, a GW commit, earned first-team All-State honors for the coaches and helped lead the Cougars to the state semi-finals, stealing 16 bases, hitting seven doubles, scoring 18 runs, and batting .358 during the regular season.
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Third Base: Charlie Cody (Great Bridge), Junior - Doing battle with James River's Mac Caples for this spot the last two years, the final round goes to Cody, a UVA commit who hit .407 with five home runs and 25 RBI during the regular year, helping to bring Great Bridge all the way to the state AAA final.
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Shortstop: Andrew Knizner (Hanover), Senior - Knizner earned all-district, all-region, and all-state honors from the coaches, as he aided the Hawks in their state title run. This future member of the N. C. State Wolfpack hit .453 during the regular season, finishing with five homers, seven doubles, 26 RBI, and 32 runs scored.
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Outfield: Brit Dunnavant (Patrick Henry - Roanoke), Senior - Dunnavant earned Western Valley District POY honors after an absolutely huge year at the plate, hitting .558 with nine doubles and five triples, scoring 32 runs. He also stole 10 bases. Dunnavant finished with a record 114 hits for his high school career.
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Outfield: John Garcia (Denbigh), Senior - Garcia, a draftee of the Chicago Cubs, was one of the best all-around offensive weapons in the state this season, hitting .425 with eight doubles, three triples, and seven homers, while also stealing a remarkable 25 bases.
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Outfield: Ben Socher (Madison), Senior -The Northern Region Player of the Year and Dartmouth commit hit .430 with eight doubles, three triples, a homer, and 18 RBI, also scoring 29 times. He was also a first-team all-state selection by the coaches this season.
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Designated Hitter: Nick Feight (Battlefield), Junior -The UNCW-bound Feight was an all-state pick at catcher for the coaches, and earned Northwest Region Player of the Year honors after a season in which he hit .472 with 10 doubles, seven homers, and 33 RBI.
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Pitcher: Derek Casey (Hanover), Junior - Casey had a great regular season, but upped the ante in the playoffs. He finished 10-0 overall with an 0.89 ERA, but his state tournament line looked like this: 14 innings with appearances in all three games, 2-0 record with a save, one run allowed, 23 strikeouts.
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Pitcher: Connor Jones (Great Bridge), Senior - The UVA-bound Jones was the top prospect in the state for a reason. He finished 10-1 with a 0.55 ERA, striking out 77 batters in 63.2 IP. He earned all-state honors and led the Wildcats to a state runner-up finish.
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Utility: Blake Bivens (George Washington - Danville), Junior - Bivens had a dominant year for GW-Danville, going 9-0 with a microscopic 0.36 ERA. He also struck out 99 batters in just 53 innings, good for Western Valley District POY honors. On top of that, he was very good at the plate as well, finishing with a .478 batting average.
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PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Connor Jones (Great Bridge) - If there's one stat or "factoid" that sums up the kind of season Connor Jones had, it's this: He only had one outing in which he allowed an earned run. Let me repeat that. Other than his one loss of the season, a district tournament defeat in which he surrendered four runs, Jones did not give up an earned run in any of the other games in which he pitched. That included 9.2 scoreless innings in the state tournament. As impressive as his 0.00 regular-season ERA was, his overall WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched) was an unreal 0.66. In his state playoff start on the road against Douglas Freeman, a balanced and formidable offensive ballclub, Jones only allowed two balls to get to the outfield until the final inning. He "settled" for a three-hit shutout. His play was instrumental in getting Great Bridge back to the Group AAA title game, and, but for one outing, he was next-to-untouchable all season.
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COACH OF THE YEAR: Charlie Dragum (Hanover) - Coach Dragum has been the head coach of Hanover since the school opened, and the Hawks have been successful from the start. This year, however, Hanover won its first-ever state championship. That was due in no small measure to Dragum's careful management of his pitching staff under the new rules implemented by the VHSL this season. By using those rules to Hanover's advantage (and getting some help from a rain day), Dragum was able to use ace Derek Casey in all three games, working closely with VHSL officials to ensure there were no potential problems. The result was a state title run that included one-run victories in the state semi-final and the state championship game. Dragum's Hawks finished 23-4, with the final Group AAA state title in tow, capping a run of perpetual success with the ultimate prize.
Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
J. B. Bukauskas (Stone Bridge), Pitcher, Sophomore.
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| Jack Roberts |
Steve Hux (Hampton), Utility, Senior.
Christian Lowry (Hickory), OF, Junior.
Andy McGuire (Madison), SS, Senior.
Zach Newell (Freedom - South Riding), OF, Senior.
Daniel Overbeek (Yorktown), Utility, Senior.
Jack Roberts(James River), Pitcher, Senior.
Andre Scrubb(Hylton), Utility, Senior.
Kurt Sinnen (Kellam), C, Senior.
Rashad Stewart (Dinwiddie), Utility, Junior.
Keaton Tettlebach (South County), C, Senior.
Hunter Williams (Cosby), Utility, Junior.
Brady Zinda (C. D. Hylton), OF, Junior.