Turner Ashby: The best high school baseball program in state history?

Turner Ashby High School opened in 1956 in Dayton – it moved to Bridgewater in 1989 – and the Knights won the first of seven state baseball titles in 1971. That is tied for second in the state, back of the nine won by J.J. Kelly.

The baseball program at TA posted the 1,000th win in late March, has sent three alums to Major League Baseball and countless others to the college and minor league ranks. Nearly 20 former TA baseball players are members of the Hall of Fame in the Rockingham County Baseball League, which began in 1924 and is the oldest league in the country outside of Major League Baseball.

So is TA the best baseball program, all-time, in Virginia? It certainly is in the top three, though this writer (disclosure alert) may not be the most unbiased person to decide, as I was part of the junior varsity and varsity programs from 1977-1980.

But going by most basic metrics, a strong case could be made for the Knights. Besides big-leaguers Alan Knicley, Brian Bocock and current Detroit Tigers reliever Brenan Hanifee, two other TA alums reached the Triple-A level: pitchers Ian Ostlund, who struck out 21 Harrisonburg High batters in a game in 1997 and pitched at VMI and Virginia Tech; and Jimmy Hamilton, a Ferrum product who played in the minors in the Baltimore and Cleveland farm systems.

Most top high school programs in any sport had a coach who set a high standard, and TA is no different – Ray Heatwole won more than 300 games and three state titles in two stints at the school and is in the Virginia High School League, Virginia Baseball Coaches Association and Bridgewater College Halls of Fame.

He was the head coach at Bridgewater College before heading to TA and guided the Dukes of JMU, where one season he had four future big-league pitchers on his staff. Among his players with Harrisonburg American Legion Post 27 was Staunton native Larry Sheets, who played for the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners; and Waynesboro High product Hal Walck, who pitched for ODU and in the Chicago Cubs minor league system. Former TA star Mike Bocock, who played for Heatwole on a state title team in 1974, is a long-time manager in the Valley Baseball League and is in that circuit’s Hall of Fame.

Coastal Carolina standout Daniel Bowman, named the TA coach before the 2023 season, reached the Double-A level while playing in the Arizona Diamondbacks system. The coach before him, Andrew Armstrong, who played at Ohio State and in the Indy Frontier League, led TA to a state title in 2017. Both starred for the Knights.

The VHSL online record book through the 2024 season is filled with TA players, even decades after they graduated.

Pitcher Mike Estes won 13 games for TA in 1975, and that is tied for the most in a season of any Virginia public high school hurler. Other TA pitchers on the list include Armstrong (12 in 2006), Jodie Wampler (11 in 1969), and future JMU pitcher Justin Showalter, 11 in 2017. The top three career ERA leaders in the state are all former Knights: Fred Hill (0.17 from 1970-1971); J.D. McCurdy (0.32 from 1971-1972) and Estes (0.42 from 1973-1975). Three qualified Knights didn’t allow a run in an entire season: Dave Lineweaver (1967), Doug Heatwole (1969) and Hill (1970). And the list goes on.

TA has won state titles in three different decades: 1970s, 2000s and 2010s. Heatwole won his first title in 1974 and his last in 2002 – a span of 28 years.

Other contenders

James Madison (Vienna)

Going by one simple metric – the combined number of state titles and MLB alums – then TA and Madison are the clear winners. Each combined for a total of 10, with Madison claiming six Virginia crowns and sending four grads to The Show: Mike Wallace, Jay Franklin, Bob Brower and Jim McNamara. No state school has sent five, according to thebaseballcube.com, but the Warhawks are closing in as August began: former players Bryce Eldridge (San Francisco Giants) and James Triantos (Chicago Cubs) have been at the Triple-A level this year.

Madison posted a state title in 2021, on the shoulders of Triantos, and won again two years later on the back of two-way player Eldridge, a first-round pick of the Giants in 2023.

Madison, like TA, has had a Hall of Fame coach. Current mentor Mark “Pudge” Gjormand went into the national high school baseball coaches Hall of Fame in 2021 and won his 400th game this past season. Before him, Madison was guided by Don Roth – who was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles, pitched in the minors and passed in 2020.

(Disclosure 2: I did stories in the past for MVP International, a program founded by Gjormand that sends young athletes overseas on summer trips for cultural and sports awareness.)

Bridgewater and Vienna, interestingly, show up among the Top 10 places to live in Virginia on various websites. Madison has had nine alums drafted by MLB teams for a total of 13 selections, while TA checks in with eight alums taken for a total of 12 picks, per thebaseballcube.com.

J.J. Kelly (Wise)

If you are going simply by state titles, then the winner is Kelly – they have won nine Virginia crowns. The school has produced just five drafted players, per thebaseballcube.com – selected either out of high school or college. None of them advanced above the Single-A level.

Kelly won its first four titles in a row – 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984. Kelly merged with Pound High in 2011 to form Central High.

Pitcher Doug Bates of J.J. Kelly won 38 games in his career from 1980-1983, second-best in the VHSL records through 2024 back of Will Inman, who had 42 wins for Tunstall from 2002-2005. Bates played in the minors for the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals. Inman pitched at the Triple-A level for the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

What about Tidewater?

It is probably not a debate about which region of the state has produced the best MLB players: Tidewater.

But it seems schools in the 757 have spread the wealth around with strong programs in abundance.

“Very balanced indeed. My first thought among public schools is First Colonial (as the best). Frank Cox, Great Bridge, Western Branch, Menchville and Maury also have been excellent. For private schools, Greenbrier Christian seems like the best,” wrote Sonny Dearth, a long-time journalist in southeast Virginia.

Jimmy Anderson and Colin Selby are MLB alums from Western Branch, big-leaguers Jack Baker and Al Richter starred at Maury, and Jharel Cotton, who broke in with Oakland in 2016 and pitched with the San Francisco Giants in 2022, went to Menchville.

Take the heyday of the early 2000s, when at least four MLB third basemen all came from the Tidewater region.

• Michael Cuddyer (Great Bridge) was taken in the first round in 1997 by the Minnesota Twins. He won a batting title with the Colorado Rockies.
• David Wright (Hickory) was a first-round selection by the New York Mets in 2001. Ryan Zimmerman and Wright could be in the Hall of Fame discussion if injuries had not limited their pro tenures. The other big-leaguer from Hickory is Scott Sizemore, who played at VCU and for Waynesboro in the Valley Baseball League.
• Mark Reynolds (First Colonial) was drafted out of Virginia in 2004, falling to the 16th round. He ended up with 298 MLB homers and played for several teams, including the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals. Another big-leaguer to come out of First Colonial is ODU product Jeff Ware, who pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1990s and was another first-round pick out of the 757.
• Ryan Zimmerman (Kellam) was drafted in the first round by the Washington Nationals in 2005 out of Virginia. Other Kellam grads to make the majors are Ian Thomas and Matt Williams. Note: Zimmerman told me years ago he was headed to JMU before he switched to the Cavaliers.

The number of third basemen grows to five if you count Brendan Harris, who went to high school in New York and then played at William & Mary. Harris was drafted out of college by the Chicago Cubs in 2001 and played in the majors for several teams, including the Washington Nationals, as a utility player.

Among outfielders from the Tidewater region were B.J. Upton (Greenbrier Christian Academy), who was drafted in the first round in 2002, and brother Justin Upton, taken in the first round out of Great Bridge in 2005. Justin Upton hit 325 homers in the majors, tied with Arno native Willie Horton for the most by a player born in Virginia.

Honorable Mention

These state high school coaches posted the most wins through 2024 (and thus had strong programs) per the VHSL website:

• Tom Harding, Honaker, 633 wins, from 1971-2018;
• Mack Shupe, J.I. Burton, 569, 2003-2024;
• Gary Rice, Alleghany, 565, 1970-2019;
• Jim Snow, Menchville, 517, 1951-1991;
• Jim Cutler, Liberty (Bedford), 513, 1961-2005;
• Greg Conner, Powhatan, 504, 1985-2024;
• Mark Daniels, Virginia High, 478, 1994-2022;
• Tim Lowery, Clover Hill and Cosby, 470, 1987-2017;
• Pepper Martin, James Wood and Sherando, 407, 1992-2023;
• Mike Covington, Potomac, 469, 1994-2021;
• Jim Thacker, Jefferson Forest, 424, 1984-2013.

So, who has the best program?

After TA won its seventh state title in 2017, reporter Phil D’Abbraccio of the Daily News-Record wrote that the Knights may have the premier program in the state.

What is definite: TA is the best rural baseball program in Virginia. And perhaps the best no matter the geographic demographics.

The population of Bridgewater is around 6,500, while Vienna has about 17,000 residents but is located in high-density Fairfax County.

Vienna is a baseball town at many youth levels – so is Bridgewater. The Madison High class of 2025 had 524 graduates and TA had 243, per online reports.

If forced to pick, I go with a tie between TA and Madison High as the best in Virginia.

Notes

• The state had no players drafted right from Virginia high school programs this year. That is the first time that has happened since 2017 – not counting 2020, when the draft was just five rounds due to the pandemic. Among state colleges, Virginia had 19 draft picks in July.
• Virginia High (Bristol) has won seven state titles and its alum include two ex-MLBers: Virginia Tech product and slugger Kevin Barker and pitcher Justin Grimm. J.R. Tucker (Henrico County) won six titles between 1978 and 1986 and has produced two big-leaguers: Mike Milchin and Mac Scarce.
• Among those at the Hall of Fame on July 27 as Tazewell High graduate Billy Wagner was inducted were former Ferrum coach Abe Naff and current Ferrum coach Eric Owens, who played in high school at Tunstall and at Ferrum. Virginia Tech product Joe Mantiply, a pitcher for Arizona who was an All-Star in 2022, is the other MLB player from Tunstall.
• Justin Verlander (Goochland, ODU) posted his first win of the MLB season for the Giants on July 23, in his 17th start of the year. That gave him 263 career wins – the most by a Virginia native is 266 by Hall of Famer Eppa Rixey, who grew up in Charlottesville and went to Virginia.

David Driver is a Harrisonburg native who played baseball at Turner Ashby, Harrisonburg Legion Post 27, EMU (one light-hitting season) and for Clover Hill in the RCBL. He is the co-author of “From Tidewater to the Shenandoah: Snapshots from Virginia’s Rich Baseball Legacy,” which is available on the websites of Amazon and Barnes and Noble and at daytondavid.com. He was the sports editor of the Daily News-Record from 2019-21 and worked for the paper in the 1980s.