It happens every spring. Eight or nine solid Bay Rivers District baseball teams beat up on each other in the regular season, few go into the postseason with great records, then several make deep state playoff runs.
The tradition dates back through the league’s 33 years, but the BRD is on a roll of late. Lafayette won the 2019 Class 4 state title and Tabb — which like the Rams was well out of first in the district standings — reached the Class 3 state final.
Two years ago, five of 10 Bay Rivers teams advanced to at least the state quarterfinals: two in Class 4 (Grafton and Warhill), two in Class 3 (New Kent and Lafayette) and one in Class 2 (Poquoson). A year ago, three — champion New Kent (Class 3) and runners-up Poquoson (Class 2 and Smithfield (Class 4) — reached state championship games.
This year, the Bay Rivers has advanced three teams to the state semifinals. On Friday, Poquoson (15-8) plays Dan River (13-11) at 9:30 a.m. at Kiwanis Park in Salem in Class 2, Lafayette (14-11) faces Liberty Christian Academy (23-0) at 11 a.m. in Class 3 at Monticello High in Charlottesville and York (17-9) plays Pulaski County (15-10) at 2 p.m., also at Monticello.
The three Bay Rivers semifinalists were a combined 33-27 in the regular season, but are a combined 13-1 in the playoffs, No. 8 seed Lafayette’s 6-5 win over No. 7 York in the Class 3 Region A championship game included. Lafayette stunned top-seeded and BRD champ New Kent 5-2 in a region quarterfinal on its run to the title.
“Iron sharpens iron,” said Lafayette coach Quentin Mascari. “I grew up in playing in Chesterfield, and have coached in Henrico and seen the Capital and Central districts, and I would take the competition in the Bay Rivers District against anyone — especially at the levels we play.
“To be able to consistently produce state contenders in Classes 2, 3 and 4 every year is something no other district can say. Just winning that New Kent game is one that caps a season because we want our program to be on that level.
“It gave us the idea that it wasn’t a fluke and this is what we can be when we play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
Lafayette
Mascari, in his first year at Lafayette, probably speaks for a lot of Bay Rivers’ baseball coaches when he says, “The talent level was here, it was just getting the players to buy in and believe in themselves.”
The emergence of speedy centerfielder Darius Jones has been key. A rarely used reserve in past seasons, Jones is hitting .340, has stolen 22 bases in 25 attempts and “is making non-routine defensive plays look routine,” Mascari said.
Junior Brady Isaksen (7-3, 1.14 ERA) has been a stud on the mound, but threw a complete game in the state quarterfinal win over Culpeper County. So he can’t pitch against LCA. That means the reliable bats of Josh Sims (.328), Brady Kremer (.366) and CJ Buchan (15 RBIs, two home runs) will have to stay hot against LCA — 69-3 the past three seasons.
Poquoson
Islanders coach Craig Zimmerman echoes Mascari about the Bay Rivers’ competitiveness: “It does nothing but prepare us for region and state play.” That preparation, he adds, included five one-run losses during an 11-8 regular season.
But the bats have come alive for the Islanders, who are looking to reach the Class 2 state final for a third time in four seasons. Shortstop Eli Tyndall (.343, 23 runs), catcher Eli Monroe (.339, 17 RBIs) and outfielders Baker Green (.324, 24 of 24 stolen bases) and T.J. Check (.307, 14 RBIs) are swinging the hottest bats.
Speed is plentiful as the three leadoff hitters — Green, Tyndall (11 steals) and Check (11 steals) — are a combined 46 of 49 stealing bases. Green, a Class 2 track champ at 100 and 200 meters, has been stellar defensively in center.
Max Fritts (7-5 with a .195 batting average against) is the go-to pitcher for a fourth consecutive season. But in Tyndall (4-2), who has a no-hitter in postseason play, the Islanders have the second pitcher to match him lacking in recent postseason runs.
Both have benefited this season from the addition of pitching coach Jimmy Greene, a program legend who pitched the Islanders to the first of their three state titles 23 years ago.
York
Second-year coach Nick Ham says this year’s senior class began the turnaround a year ago, when the Falcons were 17-7, and continued it with steady play throughout 2024. Hampden-Sydney-bound Bobby Holihan has been the leader at the plate and on the mound, pitching the Falcons to a 4-1 win at Brentsville District on Tuesday in the Class 3 state quarterfinals.
“Bobby has been the heart of our lineup,” Ham said. “He’s been very consistent pitching to both sides of the plate.”
Other standouts in that senior class are Jack Herrmann, Cole Draper and Casey Cheaney. A group of younger players has blended in seamlessly.
“They’ve banded together and play for each other, which means the world,” Ham said.
He credits the Falcons’ consistency to a focus on the small details that have minimized mistakes. That is a must in the baseball-tough Bay Rivers.
“We play in one of the tougher districts in the state of Virginia,” Ham said.
