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Less than two months remain before the start of the 2018  high school baseball season. We will spotlight teams from around the state as we near the start of our high school preseason and season coverage.

Team Spotlight: Woodgrove Woverines

Head Coach: Rusty Smith (4th Season)
Classification: 4A
Conference: Dulles District
2017 Record: 10-12
2017 Post Season: Conference Semifinals
Returning Starters: 4
Returning Pitchers: 3

Returners with Post Season Honors
N/A

Key Returners (2017 Stats)
Jarett Lorusso P 2018 (42.1 IP, 0.99 ERA, 51 K)
Justin Hanvey SS 2018 (.348 OBP, 12 RBI, 11 R)
Sam Upton OF 2018 (.310 BA, .447 OBP)
Nick Lockhart RHP/1B 2019 (3.38 ERA, 18.2 IP, 27 IP)
Ryan Badillo 3B 2018 (.275 BA, .393 OBP)
Nate Wright P 2018 (18.1 IP, 3.44 ERA, 15 K)

Key Losses
Clayton Roberts
Tommy Wozny
Ryan Miles
Clark Hile
Ben Griffin

Key Newcomer(s)
Wyatt Miles SS/2B 2020 (Pictured)
Brady Drawbaugh (Transfer) OF 2019

Outlook
The Wolverines have a strong core of returners coming back for the 2018 season as they hope to take a Dulles district championship and make a state tournament run. The wolverines lost some of their top hitters on the team from but do return some key offensive pieces in Ryan Badillo, Sam Upton, and Justin Hanvey (Radford). Two new faces Wyatt Miles and Brady Drawbaugh should add some depth to the lineup. On the mound the Woverines return Jarett LoRusso (Roanoke) who will form an ace combination as Nick Lockhart (Virginia Tech) should move into the other starting pitcher role to replace Ryan Miles. LoRusso had a dominant 2017 season (see stats above) and should continue that trend this 2018 season. Nate Wright looks like he will man the third starter and be a key reliever in the pen for the Wolverines. The Wolverines are hoping to continue the trend they had in 2017 of dominant pitching with a staff ERA of 2.50 averaging over a strikeout an inning. If the staff can continue the trend of 2017 and they can get more offensive output, it could be a big year for the Wolverines in 2018.

More 2018 Team Previews