Madawaska Survives Fort Fairfield Comeback; Win 8-7; Recap

Young Tigers are ready to compete!

The Fort Fairfield Tigers baseball team has quickly become one of the more interesting teams in the early stages of the high school baseball season. Due to low enrollment numbers and multiple injuries the Tigers have had to dip into a very talented pool of eighth graders to help the varsity team and a team that is building for the future, has been competitive early on.

Heal points on the line Wednesday 

Madawaska travelled to Fort Fairfield on Wednesday afternoon to take on the Tigers in a Class D North matchup. The Owls came into the game with a record of 2-3, coming off of a tough 4-3 loss to Wisdom on Monday. Fort Fairfield started the day 2-2, coming off of a win on Monday over the Van Buren Crusaders.

Teams combined for 7 runs in the first inning

The top of the first inning saw Madawaska's offense bat around the order, plating 6 runs to jump out to a big lead before the Tigers had a turn at-bat. Chris Boucher drove in two runs on a single with the bases loaded to get the scoring started for the Owls. Cameron Derosier doubled in a run for the Owls, and he would finish the day 3-4 at the plate for Madawaska. In the bottom half of the first inning the Tigers got one run back when Zakary Gerhauser drove in Joel Cormier. Madawaska held a 6-1 at the end of one inning of play.

Tigers mount a comeback

Fort Fairfield was able to limit the Madawaska offense after the opening frame, allowing them to make a comeback. Brett Senal drove in a run for the Tigers on a sacrifice fly, and they would add another run on a balk later in the third inning. Madawaska held an 8-4 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Tigers scored two runs in the sixth on a wild pitch and a pass ball to cut the Owls lead to 8-6 going into the final inning of play.

Rally falls short

Madawaska was unable to score in the top of the seventh after having a runner picked off attempting to steal. Fort Fairfield loaded the bases in the bottom half of the seventh and then scored on a balk to make the score 8-7, in favor of the Owls. With runners on second and third base, eighth grader Cayden Ala lined a fly ball down the left field line that was tracked down by Madawaska. The Owls escaped with an 8-7 victory.

Stats provided by GameChanger

Joel Cormier of Fort Fairfield was 2-3 with 2 walks and 3 runs scored and Cayden Ala went 1-4 with a walk as well. Brett Senal went 2-4 with an RBI for the Tigers while pitching 7 innings of relief, giving up 1 earned run. For Madawaska, Ian Beaulieu went 1-3 with a walk and 2 runs scored and Boucher went 1-3 with 2 RBI.

On Deck: 

Fort Fairfield falls to 2-3 on the season with a game against Fort Kent scheduled for Monday. Madawaska is now 3-3 and will play Hodgdon on Friday and Fort Kent on Saturday. Thank you to Emily Ala for providing photos from the game.