Fryeburg Academy baseball holds onto defeat Greely in Class B South final

Fryeburg Academy celebrates its Class B South title after beating Greely 4-3 on Tuesday in Standish. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)

STANDISH — For Fryeburg Academy baseball coach Greg Allain, the Class B South final felt like a carbon copy of the Raiders’ second regular-season matchup with Greely.

The Raiders lost that game, but earned their revenge on Tuesday, beating the defending Class B state champion Rangers 4-3 at St. Joseph’s College.

Fryeburg improves to 16-3 and will face North champion Cony (17-2) in the state championship game on Saturday in Standish.

Raiders starting pitcher Brady Chappell pitched into the sixth inning against Greely in the matchup on May 26, and again on Tuesday. In both games, Colin Chester came on in relief.

Chester gave up a walk-off hit to Connor Skillin in the Raiders’ 3-2 loss in the regular season. On Tuesday, he retired Skillin to end the game.

“Brady threw six innings, and Colin Chester, the pitcher who just closed the game, he’s the one who came in and gave it up,” Allain said. “Well, this was redemption for him, and it was really good to see that (Chester) got the last four outs.”

The teams know each other well, as Greely defeated Fryeburg 4-3 in last year’s regional final, on a walk-off hit by Kyle Soule. Fryeburg also beat Greely 11-1 on May 21.

“We were here last year, same team, not same place, but same spot,” said Chappelle, who allowed four hits, struck out 10 and walked six. “And we lost, unfortunately, in walk-off (fashion). And this year, it just felt so fulfilling to finish the job. I’m ecstatic right now.”

All of the Raiders’ scoring came in the first two innings. Connor Keaton crossed home plate in the first inning on an error. He brought home the second run in the bottom of the second on a sac fly. Noah Day belted a two-run double later in the second after Alex Allain was intentionally walked.

“I mean, swing bat, hit ball, hit it hard, hit it where it’s pitched,” Day said of his approach after the walk.

Greely chipped away at the deficit, getting a single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

“It’s tough against a pitcher like Chappell to dig yourself a four-run hole,” Greely coach Derek Soule said. “We’re very proud of how our guys battled back. Made it a game, put us in a position where one hit could have given us the lead. So we’ve been a resilient group that has battled from start to finish all last year, all this year, and we saw it again today.”