FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Fort Fairfield is back in the Class D North baseball finals for the second year in a row, and the right arm of Jared Harvey has a lot to do with that.
The Tigers’ junior silenced Hodgdon bats in Saturday’s semifinal, surrendering just two hits and walking two in a tidy 5-0 victory.
Harvey, who improved his individual pitching record to 6-0 and the No. 1 Tigers’ overall mark to 16-0, struck out six in the complete-game performance, which took only 1 hour and 35 minutes to play. He also relied on a steady defense that was solid throughout.
“My fastball was working pretty good for me, but my curveball wasn’t so much so I was trying to throw it by them,” Harvey said. “[Hodgdon] is a good hitting team, but my guys in the outfield were making the plays.”
Fort Fairfield, which beat the Hawks 10-0 in last year’s semifinals, advanced to play No. 2 Bangor Christian on June 13 in the regional title game at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.
Fifth seed Hodgdon closed the season at 12-5.
Hodgdon baserunner Andrew Tuttle is tagged out by Fort Fairfield shortstop Ryan Player after getting caught in a rundown between third base and home plate during Saturday’s Class D North semifinal played in Fort Fairfield. The Tigers won, 5-0. (Kevin Sjoberg)
Fort Fairfield scratched out unearned runs in the first and third innings and the game stayed close until the bottom of the sixth when the hosts put three important insurance runs on the board.
Following back-to-back hits to lead off the inning by Ryan Player and Harvey, Carter Bruce and Dylan Jandreau executed consecutive squeeze bunts to drive in the baserunners. Carter Bruce knocked in Player with his and Dylan Jandreau plated Harvey. Dawson Watson pinch-ran for Jandreau and scored on a wild pitch.
“We have a lot of guys who can lay down a bunt,” Harvey said. “We’ve had quite a few games where we were way ahead so we had some chances to work on those squeeze plays.”
Harvey then mowed Hodgdon down in order in the seventh, striking out Kyle Carver to end the game and clinch the shutout.
“It made me feel more relaxed [after his team scored the three runs] and if anything does happen, I’m confident my defense will make the plays behind me,” Harvey said.
Malcolm Langner doubled in a run and scored, while Chris Gill and Colby Langner added hits for Fort Fairfield.
Andrew Tuttle and Ben Tuttle managed the only hits for the Hawks (12-5). Ben Tuttle was strong on the mound as he went the distance and ended up with eight strikeouts while giving up only five hits and walking two.
Fort Fairfield was averaging just under 14 runs per game.
“I thought [Ben] pitched as well as we could have asked. He pitched in last year’s playoff loss, so he redeemed himself and showed how good he actually is,” said Hodgdon coach Seth Dorr, “but Fort Fairfield is a solid team and well coached and they were better than us today.”
