There has been a scheduling change for Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class A baseball championship game between Bangor and Brewer.

No, the game is not being moved from Morton Field in Augusta back to the Bangor area, but the starting time has been moved up a half-hour, from 5:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

That change was made Monday, said Maine Principals’ Association executive director Dick Durost, because Morton Field does not have lights and officials wanted to make sure the game could be completed before nightfall.

Durost also re-affirmed that the game would remain in Augusta, as would other championship games remain in their predetermined sites.

“We’re locked in to facilities,” said Durost, “and we can’t get in the position of changing game sites based on which teams are in the finals. But if I were Bangor or Brewer, I would raise the question.”

Coaches Jeff Fahey of Bangor and David Morris of Brewer were philosophical about the situation.

“At this point we’d just like to know for sure where the game’s going to be, Mansfield or Augusta,” said Fahey. “We’re ready to play, and I know Brewer will be ready to play, and it’s too bad this is overshadowing what should be a great baseball contest.”

“The first thing came to mind after we won the Gardiner semifinal and people started asking was ‘We could play in Japan, it wouldn’t make a difference,'” Morris said. “We’re excited to be there and the venue where we’re going to play doesn’t really matter to us. If anything, we’ve been traveling so we’re used to it.”

Durost said his office fielded phone calls early Monday inquiring about a potential move of the game to the Bangor area, where the Eastern A final was held until the 2005 game between Edward Little of Auburn and Oxford Hills of South Paris was shifted to Augusta one day before it was scheduled to be played because of geographical considerations for the schools involved.

That year’s state final also was moved to Augusta, and while at least one MPA baseball committee member later said the sudden decision to move the 2005 games represented “poor timing,” that committee subsequently opted to approve making the move of those games permanent because of Augusta’s central location for Eastern Maine Class A schools.

That followed an earlier MPA decision to move the Eastern A basketball tournament from the Bangor Auditorium to the Augusta Civic Center beginning in 2006. Again the reason was that Augusta was a more central location for an Eastern Maine Class A that now looks much different from a generation ago, when northern schools Presque Isle, Caribou, Houlton and Stearns all competed in the large-school division.

Today Old Town is the northernmost Eastern A school, and when that school moves to Class B this fall Bangor will be the northernmost Class A school in the state. Meanwhile Eastern A extends as far south as Morse of Bath and Brunswick and as far west as Edward Little of Auburn and Oxford Hills.

The Class A state final now rotates between Morton Field in Augusta, where this year’s game will be held Saturday, and Mahaney Diamond at Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.

Durost said MPA assistant executive director Larry LaBrie had been in contact with some members of the baseball committee about the issue Monday, as well as with a representative of at least one of the schools involved.

Durost also noted that Wednesday’s game at Augusta would afford the winner an extra chance to play at the site of this year’s state final.

“It’s the state-championship field and one of us has the opportunity to play there twice,” said Morris. “Is it the best field in the state? No, but it’s a nice field and to be able to play there possibly twice, if you want to call that an advantage I guess it works to our favor, either us or Bangor.”

“At the same time, I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think there might be 4,000 people [at Mansfield] for a Bangor-Brewer contest,” added Fahey, “and with a 5 o’clock start there are going to be a lot of people who aren’t going to be able to make it or won’t want to get there halfway through, and that’s unfortunate.”

Top-seeded Bangor (18-0) is in search of its second consecutive state title, having defeated Skowhegan in last year’s Eastern Maine final before rallying past Portland 4-3 in the 2006 state championship game at Saint Joseph’s College.

Sixth-ranked Brewer (13-6) is in the regional final for the first time since 2004, when the Witches lost to future pro Mark Rogers and Mount Ararat High School of Topsham in the last Eastern A championship game played at Mansfield Stadium.

Both teams will enter Wednesday’s game riding a hot streak. Bangor has won 29 consecutive games dating to last season, while Brewer’s 9-2 semifinal win at No. 2 Gardiner marked the Witches’ 11th win in their last 14 games.

Bangor defeated Brewer twice during the regular season, 8-7 at Mansfield Stadium on April 21 and 7-0 at Heddericg Field in Brewer on May 11.

Brewer is the last team to defeat Bangor, having edged the Rams 2-1 at Mansfield Stadium on May 9, 2006.

The Bangor-Brewer winner will face the survivor of Wednesday’s Western A final between No. 1 Deering of Portland and No. 3 Portland High School in Saturday’s state championship game.