Baseball Preview

Posted: March 14, 2015
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Nine Millbrook players return from last year’s baseball team that finished as the 4A state runner-up, but the Pioneers know that last season’s success only brings more challenges this year.

The Pioneers bring back seven All-Northwestern District and six All-Conference 21 players from last year’s team that finished 24-2 (12-0 district) and went on to sweep both the conference and 4A North Region tournaments.

Pioneers head coach Brian Burke knows nothing will be handed to his team this season.

“It’s not going to be an easy year for us,” Burke said. “We’ve got the target on our back and everyone will play their best and pitch their best against us. The key for us is we can’t rest on what happened last year. We’ll see how the kids react. If they go out and play like they’re capable of playing, we’ll be successful. If we put pressure on ourselves to be the team last year, then we may not see the same success.”

The Pioneers only lost three players to graduation (including first team all-district and all-conference shortstop Jacob Jaye, now at Virginia Military Institute, catcher Matt Hendershot and first team all-district and second team all-conference designated hitter Austin DeTray), but the team must also overcome the loss of sophomore pitcher Anthony Simonelli, who is expected to miss the entire season after suffering a torn meniscus in his knee while playing for the Millbrook basketball team back in December. Simonelli, who earned all-state honors as a freshman, went 10-0 with 39 strikeouts and a 1.57 earned run average last season.

“Anthony is certainly going to be difficult to replace,” Burke said. “You take a 10-0, sub-2.00 ERA and first team all-state player away — those are big shoes to fill. Somewhere along the line we’ll need to figure out who that is going to be in the top three of the rotation.”

Millbrook returns junior pitcher Trey Braithwaite (6-0, 1.32 ERA, 45 Ks) and senior pitcher Colin Benner (5-2, 1.31 ERA, 47 Ks), and Burke hopes junior Alex Amos and sophomore Austin Murphy can also give the team some quality innings.

Although the pitching staff might not be as deep as Burke envisioned, the Pioneers return five of their top seven hitters from last season, including first team all-conference and second team all-district senior center fielder Ryan Hartigan (.419 batting average, 24 RBIs, 29 runs), and Northwestern District Player of the Year and first team all-conference sophomore left fielder Conor Hartigan (.417, an area-best 43 RBIs, 28 runs), who also earned first team All-4A honors as a freshman. The rest of the Pioneers’ top returning hitters include first team all-district and all-conference senior second baseman Bruce Keenan (.337, 20 RBIs, 28 runs), Amos (.337, 12 RBIs, 20 runs, first team all-district and second team all-conference), and junior third baseman/shortstop Trenton Burgreen (.329, 15 RBIs, 28 runs, first team all-district ).

“We’re confident with the offensive players that we have,” Burke said. “Defense and pitching-wise, we also feel like we may have to put up more runs this year. We’d be foolish to think we could repeat three pitchers with a 20-2 record and a sub-2.00 ERA with what we know right now. Offensively, I feel good about where we are and it will work itself out.”

Just two years removed from winning the 4A state championship, Sherando enters the season with just two players — seniors Adam Whitacre and Connor Stevenson — who played on that state title team since catcher Chase Smallwood (now at Shepherd University) and outfielder Reid Entsminger (Lamar University — football) graduated.

Whitacre, a first team all-district outfielder, hit .392 with 29 runs. He also earned second team all-district honors, leading Sherando on the mound with a 6-2 record, an area-best 52 strikeouts and a 1.57 ERA. Whitacre and senior and second team all-district selection Ty Michaud (4-2, 26 Ks, an area-best 1.00 ERA in 42 innings pitched), give the Warriors a solid 1-2 punch that many teams would envy.

Sherando coach Pepper Martin said one of the keys for his team will be how the rest of the pitching staff comes together.

“We have two solid pitchers in Adam and Ty but after that how well we do as a team will depend a lot upon how the other four pitchers develop and how well they compete,” Martin said. “We may have to mix and match on the mound quite a bit.”

Martin said senior Quentin Rohrbaugh, junior Tyler Tinsman and newcomers Brett Griffith and Caleb Peacher could see time on the mound.

Martin said defending district champ Millbrook should be the team to beat once again.

“Millbrook’s got a lot of experience and outstanding players returning and they’re the odds-on favorite not only for the district but the conference as well,” Martin said. “James Wood should be better and Skyline should be better too.

The area’s other remaining Northwestern District teams — James Wood and Handley — must replace several key players from last season.

The Colonels, who finished 12-8, 6-6 last year, lost six starters to graduation, including top pitcher and leading hitter Noah Keller and pitcher Carder Smith, who combined with Keller for seven of the Colonels’ 12 victories a season ago.

“Probably 75 to 85 percent of our pitching numbers came from seniors last year, so we’ll have practically a whole new pitching staff,” said James Wood coach Brent Lockhart. “Bryan Whitacre pitched last year but he was injured for three quarters of the season.”

Handley only returns three players (after graduating 11) from last year’s team that went 3-13, 2-10 district, so second-year coach Pat Wingfield said the snowy weather has made it tough to get much practice time on the diamond.

“We’re working on controlling the game to cut down errors so we don’t make the game longer,” Wingfield said. “We can’t score 15 a game, so we have to control the walks and errors.”

The Conference 21 teams — Millbrook, Sherando and James Wood — will play all of their conference opponents (that includes Woodgrove, Loudoun County, Heritage, Dominion and Park View) once this season for conference seeding in addition to the home and away district schedule.

“The district is as strong as it’s been,” Wingfield said. “Millbrook will have a very, very solid team and they should be the favorite by far. Sherando always brings a solid team. It’s kind of the same as it’s been for the past couple years. James Wood, Skyline and us are battling each other while Millbrook and Sherando are battling each other.”

Clarke County hopes to make strides after going 8-8 in the Bull Run District and 9-11 overall. The Eagles only lost three players (all three starting outfielders) from last season but starter Alex Dobry returns to anchor the pitching staff.

“Our defense should be good,” Clarke County coach Jon Novick said. “We’re bringing back the entire infield so that will be good for us. Dobry is back and he was our No. 1 pitcher last year so being able to bring back your top pitcher from the year before is a good start.”

Following is a glance at the area teams:

Millbrook

Coach: Brian Burke, 5th year

Last year: 24-2, 12-0 Northwestern District — regular season champs, Conference 21 champs, 4A North Region champs, 4A state runner-up.

Key losses: Jacob Jaye, Matt Hendershot, Austin DeTray.

Top returning players: Ryan Hartigan, Sr. CF; Bruce Keenan, Sr. 2B; Colin Benner, Sr. P; Alex Amos, Jr. P/SS; Trey Braithwaite, Jr. P; Conor Hartigan, Soph. LF; Anthony Simonelli, Soph. P; Trenton Burgreen, Jr. 3B/SS; Michael Tinsman, Sr. OF.

Key newcomers: Kyle Keenan, Soph. C; Austin Murphy, Soph. 1B/P; Josh Herman, Jr. 1B.

Quote: “We return a good nucleus and a good bit of talent,” Burke said. “With the [field] conditions the way they are outside we haven’t been able to address some of the holes we have. We feel we still need to fill shortstop and first base that are sitting wide open right now.”

Opener: Tuesday at Broadway, 6 p.m.

Sherando

Coach: Pepper Martin, 22nd year

Last year: 16-8, 8-4 Northwestern, Conference 21 and 4A North Region runner-up, lost in 4A state semifinals to Hanover.

Key losses: Chase Smallwood, Reid Entsminger, Zach Henke, Rennie Marchi, Trent Marchi, Hayden Fox, Marcus Painter, Jordan Clark.

Top returning players: Adam Whitacre, Sr. P/CF; Connor Stevenson, Sr. C; Ty Michaud, Sr. P/SS; Quentin Rohrbaugh, Sr. OF/P; Matt Dansbach, Sr. 1B; Michael White, Sr. OF; Tyler Tinsman, Jr. C/3B/P.

Key newcomers: Collin Painter, Jr. 2B; Brett Griffith, Jr. P/OF; Austin Simmons, Jr. UT; Myles McPartland, Soph. OF; Caleb Peacher, Soph. UT; Frank Ritter III, Fr. SS; Pearce Bucher, Fr. 3B.

Quote: “It may very well be a rebuilding year for us, but we have some young players we’re really excited about,” Martin said. “We’ll be one of those teams that has to manufacture runs offensively. We’ll have to develop into a scrappy team to be successful. Defensively, we can’t give a team extra outs. We feel our defense may be a little bit better than last year, but we still have a lot of questions to be answered.”

Opener: Tuesday vs. Briar Woods, 6 p.m.

James Wood

Coach: Brent Lockhart, 2nd year

Last year: 12-8, 6-6 Northwestern, lost to Loudoun County in Conference 21 quarterfinals.

Key losses: Noah Keller, Nick Goode, Dakota Orndorff, Canon Cochran, Carder Smith.

Top returning players: Bryan Whitacre, Sr. P; Kris Malsch, Sr. IF; Cohen Kerns, Sr. C; KaCee Duggan, Sr. OF.

Key newcomers: Cameron Gross, Jr. P; Cameron Bias, Jr. IF/P; Joel Smith, Soph. IF/P.

Quote: “We haven’t been on a field all year and we lost key people,” said Lockhart earlier in the week. “We had a lot of depth last year. But with the new rules letting kids get work in the fall and winter — we did a lot of work in the fall and winter and we got to work in the cage and work in the pen. We need to fill some holes. Noah was our leading hitter and top pitcher, Canon played great in the outfield for us and Dakota did a good job playing everywhere.”

Opener: Tuesday at Luray, 5 p.m.

Handley

Coach: Pat Wingfield, 2nd year

Last year: 3-13, 2-10 Northwestern, lost to Fluvanna in Conference 23 quarterfinals.

Key losses: Blaine Homan, Clifton Ambers, Andrew Lins, Nick Dempsey, Josh Blake, Christian Hoffman, Brian Thomas.

Top returning players: Braden Collingwood, Sr. UT/P/3B; Cole Talton, Sr. CF/P; Dwight McGinnis, Soph. 2B/SS/P.

Key newcomers: Cam Bentley, Soph. UT; Jimmy Vitola, Soph. C; Travis Painter, Jr. 1B/3B; Ben Nelson, Sr. OF; Dylan VanLaeken, Jr. 1B; Raymond Reigle, Sr. SS.

Quote: “We have a lot of young guys and this year we’ll have a lot of new guys on the mound,” Wingfield said. “We’ve emphasized pitching and trying to get two pitches for strikes. We really have to work on control and how we handle batters. In the field, we need to get a lot better.”

Opener: Tuesday at Freedom, 6 p.m.

Clarke County

Coach: Jon Novick, 7th year

Last year: 9-11, 8-8 Bull Run District; lost to Page County in Conference 35 quarterfinals.

Key losses: Jarrett Sowder, Connor Liggett and Kasey Lake.

Top returning players: Alex Dobry, Sr. P/OF; Travis Elsea, Sr. IF; Kevin Ryan, Sr. IF; Mike Fields, Jr. IF; Zach Melusen, Jr. IF/P; Cody Santmyer, Jr. OF/P; Jordon Turner, Jr. IF.

Key newcomers: Hayden Good, Soph. OF/P; Kaden Warren, Fr. IF.

Quote: “I would expect for us to be competitive in the district this year,” Novick said. “I know some of the other top district teams brought back a lot of players, but I like what I see so far. Being able to bring back so many people is a plus. I’d like to see the strides we made in the offseason pay off for us.”

Opener: Monday at Manassas Park, 7 p.m.

SVCA

Coach: Bobby Wheelock, 12th year

Last year: 7-9, lost in VACA state quarterfinals

Key losses: Taylor Jones, Jacob Heflin, Ryan North, Patrick McGrath.

Top returning players: Matt Rogers, Sr. CF; Cody Robertson, Soph. P/2B/OF; Madison Brewer, Sr. 1B/OF; Nick Bailey, Soph. OF/1B.

Key newcomers: Alex Mees, Soph. P/IF; Aiden Nicholson, Fr. SS/P; Stephen Goldbranson, Soph. SS/OF; Caleb Rogers, Fr. C/OF; Jack Margaros, Soph. C; Micah Sloan, eighth grader, 2B/P.

Quote: “I think we have a lot of youth but for a lot of our players baseball is their main sport,” Wheelock said. “We do have more pitching than we’ve had in three or four years. We’re just hoping to get in a position where we can win the VACA but it will be tough especially as you go down south to the southern part of the conference.”

Opener: Tuesday vs. Holy Family Catholic School at Bing Crosby Stadium, 4:30 p.m.

— Contact Robert Stocks at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.