PORTLAND – Three thousand tickets for Monday’s Class A state final between Mount Ararat of Topsham and Deering of Portland will go on sale from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday, at the Portland Expo ticket office. A maximum of five (5) tickets may be purchased per individual.

The remaining 4,000 tickets will go on sale at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Hadlock Stadium. The game begins at 6 p.m.

Stadium officials have expressed concern about the ability to efficiently move up to 7,000 spectators through the ticket purchasing process on Monday evening, the Maine Principals’ Association stated in a press release Friday. Stadium and MPA officials agreed to a presale in order to facilitate that process as much as possible.

The MPA moved the game from Saturday at Gorham High School in anticipation of record crowds for a game pitting defending champ Deering against Mount Arat whose star pitcher Mark Rogers is going to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Rogers, who was drafted fifth overall by the Milwaukee Brewers, is expected to be on the mound against an undefeated Deering team ranked 25th in the nation in a Baseball America poll.

A record 3,500 fans watched Mount Ararat beat Brewer in Tuesday’s Eastern regional championship at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor. That figure surprised MPA officials and sent them searching for a venue with more capacity than Gorham.

Dick Durost, MPA’s executive director, said about half the fans at the Eastern final were baseball fans unconnected to either team. He said changing the venue was the reasonable thing to do.

But Deering coach Mike D’Andrea was unhappy with the change.

“It comes down to the MPA worrying about money and the public and not the kids,” he said. “I could care less if the public gets a show or not.”