Madison High School held onto the top spot in the first regular-season NOVA Baseball Magazine Top 10 poll, garnering 12 of the 14 first-place votes and 138 points overall.
The Warhawks opened the season with 4-2 and 10-0 wins over Marshall and Thomas Jefferson, respectively, last week and have traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., this weekend to compete in next week’s Mingo Bay Classic, where they are in a pool that includes St. Francis (IL.), Fleming (KY) and Conway (S.C.)
Madison will be joined in the 32-team ‘A’ bracket of the tournament by No. 2 Battlefield (3-0) and No. 7 West Springfield (2-1) and well as South County, Robinson and Forest Park. Falls Church will also participate in the event and compete in the 32-team ‘B’ bracket.
No. 2 Battlefield has posted three straight shutouts to open the season in wins over C.D. Hylton, Woodbridge and Gar-Field, including a 12-strikeout performance by left-hander Jake Agnos (pictured) in the win over Gar-Field on March 25. The Bobcats, which received 123 points and the two remaining first-place votes from our selection committee, will participate in a pool that includes Nitro (W.V.), East Clarendon (S.C.) and Myrtle Beach (S.C.). Nitro has appeared in the West Virginia 3A state championship game four times since 2008, twice winning the title, and East Clarendon is currently ranked No. 3 in the South Carolina Group A coaches poll.
“We treat this like a business trip, not a spring break vacation,” said Battlefield coach Jay Burkhart. “I believe that this bounds us together as a team and we can start to identify who we are. The quality of teams are good and I like to compete [against] teams we know nothing about. I think that this helps us for the postseason when you play teams that you might not have a lot of information or tendencies on.
“When we come back home, relationships are built and our team is ready to get underway with conference play.”
West Springfield, which suffered their first loss of the season, 4-3, to Annandale on March 24, are matched up with North Myrtle Beach (S.C.), Olean (N.Y.) and Greenville (TN) in the Mingo Bay event.
No. 3 Lake Braddock (3-0) has looked impressive in outscoring Flint Hill, Lee and South County by a combined 29-4 and will look to continue its hot start this coming week in the Bulldog/Titan Classic at Stone Bridge and Dominion high schools in Ashburn. The Bruins will play No. 8 Oakton (1-0) and Dominion (1-1) on Monday, with a third game on Tuesday determined by Monday’s outcomes.
No. 4 Stone Bridge (2-0) will play W.T. Woodson and No. 5 Chantilly (2-0) on Monday, and Oakton, which won their opener at Washington-Lee, 7-3, on March 25, will play Dominion in their second game on Monday after playing Lake Braddock.
No. 6 Paul VI Catholic (8-3) won all five of its games last week over Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) foes Bishop Ireton, St. Mary’s Ryken, Bishop O’Connell as well as Marshall and West Potomac, and is next in action on Tuesday against Georgetown Prep.
No. 9 Patriot (2-1), which defeated Hylton, 3-2, on March 24, will travel to compete in the Hanihan Invitational Tournament (H.I.T.) in Charleston, S.C., this coming week. The Pioneers will play Goose Creek (S.C.) in their first game of the tournament on Monday. Annandale is the other local team participating in the H.I.T. tournament this year.
No. 10 Fairfax (3-0), which travels to Florida for the week, is the lone newcomer to the poll.
Marshall, Loudoun Valley, Centreville - which dropped out of the poll after a loss to Osbourn Park last week - Flint Hill, Robinson, Bishop O’Connell, Potomac, Woodgrove, Washington-Lee, Annandale and C.D. Hylton also received votes in this week’s poll.
The poll’s selection committee is comprised of coaches Mark “Pudge” Gjormand (Madison), Kevin Ford (Chantilly), Jeff Nolan (Paul VI Catholic), Sam Plank (Stone Bridge), Tom Verbanic (Flint Hill), Sammy Serrano (Patriot), Aaron Tarr (Marshall), Jay Burkhart (Battlefield) and Doug Grove (Washington-Lee), and media members Nick Eilerson (Fairfax Times), David Fawcett (Prince William Today), Dave Facinoli (Sun Gazette Newspapers), Jon Roetman (The Connection Newspapers) and Joey Kamide (NOVA Baseball Magazine).
Photo of Jake Agnos courtesy of Stars Showcase Baseball
