Ray Faria
Graduating class: 1956
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2024
Hall of Fame Category: Athlete
Ray Faria played a supporting role as a lineman on the FHS football team, but on the baseball diamond, he was among the top jewels of Bristol County base-ball in the mid-1950s.
For the last three seasons of his four-year baseball career, the hard-throwing right-hander was among the top pitchers in the Bristol County League, and arguably, the best right-hand hurler in Greater New Bedford.
As a sophomore Faria stepped into the spotlight when he threw a three-hit shutout over the hard-hitting Tabor Academy jayvees to lead the Blue to their ninth victory in 10 games. Using a varied assortment of curve balls, sliders and fastballs, Faria struck out a dozen Tabor hitters while facing just 28 batters over the nine inning contest. The only hits he allowed were three singles.
Fairhaven went on to post a record of 11-2 over the regular season, the team’s best in years. One of those wins came against a Durfee team Fairhaven was playing for the first time in 14 years. The Blue dropped a 2-1 decision in the first of the home-and-home series before rebounding with a 25-1 rout of the Hilltoppers in the return match.
In his junior year Faria was the ace of the Fairhaven staff, leading the team to a 12-4 regular-season record and earning a spot on the All-Bristol County team. The right-hander was in total control as he pitched his team to a complete game, 6-4, victory over New Bedford High in an early-season outing that kept his team undefeated.
The winning streak would reach six after Faria spun a masterful four-hitter to beat New Bedford Vocational and ace Glenn Warrington, 2-1, in a nine-inning thriller at Cushman Park - the winning run coming in the bottom of the eighth inning. Faria punched out seven Vocational hitters in running his season record to 4-0.
The Fairhaven ace finished the season with a record of 9-2 and was named to The Standard-Times All-Bristol County team. His nine wins were the most by any pitcher in Greater New Bedford.
Faria wrapped up his brilliant high school baseball career with another solid effort in his senior season. The workhorse again was among the County’s leading strikeout leaders and accounted for five of his team’s eight wins (8-3) on his way to earning a spot on the All-Bristol County team for the second year in a row.
In the final game of his high school diamond career, Fairhaven’s jewel pitched another gem only to come out on the losing end of a 1-0 decision to Greater New Bedford champion New Bedford Vocational and its ace left-hander Dick Mello. Faria scattered five hits and struck out 10 in a game that was scoreless for eight innings before the Trade pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning.