James Wood baseball's Bell, McGuire earn All-State honors

James Wood seniors Nick Bell and Colin McGuire were two of the three people picked as pitchers for the Virginia High School League Class 4 All-State First Team in baseball selections released Wednesday.

Bell pitched 55.1 innings and had a 7-0 record, 0.89 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 75 strikeouts. He also drove in 13 runs and scored 13 runs. Bell will play next year for Shenandoah University, which advanced to the NCAA Division III Super Regionals and finished ninth in the final D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll.

McGuire threw 55.2 innings and had an 8-2 record, 1.01 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 68 strikeouts. He also hit .368 and had 15 RBIs, 14 runs and a .452 on-base percentage. McGuire will play next year for Lynchburg University, SU’s Old Dominion Athletic Conference rival that beat SU in the Super Regionals en route to winning the program’s first national championship and a final No. 1 ranking.

Hanover senior Nolan Williamson is the Player of the Year after helping the Hawks to their second straight state title, beating Smithfield 9-1 in the title game. Williamson pitched a three-hit shutout in which he struck out 12 batters in Hanover’s 2-0 semifinal win over James Wood.

For the season, the Virginia Military Institute signee threw 54.1 innings and went 7-1 with a 0.92 ERA and a .167 batting average against. Williamson struck out 75 batters and walked 16. Williamson also played right field and first base and batted .400, had a .605 OBP, a .440 slugging percentage, a 1.045 OPS and scored 19 runs and stole 22 bases.

Smithfield’s Chris Nolan is the Coach of the Year.

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki