Fryeburg Academy used one big inning and a complete game from senior left‑hander Oliver Dean to nip Cony High School of Augusta 4-3 in the Class B baseball state championship Saturday at St. Joseph’s College in Standish.
Dean allowed four hits and three runs, all earned, while walking three and striking out five on 105 pitches. After Cony scored twice in the top of the first and added another run in the third, Dean retired 11 straight Rams at one point and shut them out over the final four innings.
Cony, which entered the game averaging more than 10 runs per game, jumped out quickly. Anderson Noyes doubled to start the game, Parker Morin singled and Nolan Noyes walked to load the bases. Max Tibbetts lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Noyes, and Morin later took home on a first‑and‑third baserunning play for a 2-0 lead.
Fryeburg answered in the bottom half. With two outs, Noah Day singled and David Rosales drilled an RBI double to left to put the Raiders on the board. Brady Chappell then launched a two‑run homer over the wall in left, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Dean helped himself in the second with a leadoff double and scored when Connor Keaton’s grounder skipped through the second baseman’s legs, pushing the margin to 4-2. Cony cut it to 4-3 in the third on Wyatt McKinney’s sacrifice fly after two walks and a bunt single loaded the bases, but Dean got Tibbetts to hit into a rare 3-6-3 double play to end the threat.
Rosales went 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored for Fryeburg. Chappell finished 1 for 2 with the decisive two‑run home run and a walk, while Dean and Day each added a hit and a run for the Raiders, who claimed their first baseball state title since 1983.