Baseball Team Honored With Sportsmanship Award

On the heels of winning two championship titles, the baseball team was honored with what some may consider an even more important achievement.

On June 6, the group’s four captains—Cameron Dias, Connor Higgins, Dilan Kluge and Michael Wallace—represented their team, along with their Varsity Head Coach Mickey Ennis, at the annual New Jersey Umpires Association Banquet in Union.

The award, named after Frank Sayre, who gave 45 years of service to the organization, is presented to one high school baseball team among eight New Jersey counties that demonstrates exemplary sportsmanship.

“Just when one is totally impressed by the championships earned by our Dodger Baseball program, they are awarded the Sportsmanship Award by the NJSB Umpires Association,” said Sean Dowling, athletic director at Madison High School. “This group of student-athletes gets it. They play hard and have fun. They respect each other, their opponents, the umpires and most of all the 'game.' They epitomize the core values of MHS: Inspiration, Knowledge, Character. The Madison High School community is very proud of our boys and congratulates them on this wonderful honor.”

The Frank Sayre Award recognizes a high school baseball team from among the area the NJSBUA serves: Union, Essex, Morris, Sussex and parts of Passaic and Somerset Counties. The team selected best represents the "Spirit of Competition and Exemplary Sportsmanship," reflecting Frank Sayre's dedication to the game of baseball.

Frank Sayre served the NJSBUA from 1948 to 1995.

This season the Madison High School Varsity Baseball team won the 2012 Independence Division Title and, most recently, the North Jersey Section 2 Group 2 Championship which was last won by Madison over two decades ago.

At the banquet, team captain Michael Wallace said the honor reflects on all of Madison's baseball programs and their coaches over the years.

“We accept the Frank Sayre Award with great honor given the prestigious acknowledgement that it is," Wallace said. "We would like to extend a huge thank you to Coach Ennis and all our coaches through the years who instilled in us a great sense of sportsmanship, teamwork and love for the game. We will bring this award back to Madison as an achievement for all of Madison baseball, from Little League through high school.”