BLUE HILL – Dusty Bates was working on a no-hitter Saturday – which usually means the subject isn’t discussed in the dugout.

But before George Stevens Academy took the field for the fifth inning of its Regional baseball semifinal against Hodgdon, the senior righthander talked openly about trying to preserve the no-hitter.

“I don’t worry about superstitions,” Bates said. “I told all my outfielders, ‘I want you guys in. I’d rather have them beat my no-hitter deep than beat me with a bleeder.'”

That’s exactly what happened.

Ryan Blanchette blooped a one-out single to right field to break up the no-hit bid in the sixth inning, but Bates’ performance was instrumental in the top-seeded Eagles’ 7-1 victory over the No. 3 Hawks.

GSA (17-2) advances to Tuesday’s 3 p.m. Eastern Maine Class C championship game against No. 1 Northeast seed Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

Bates (6-1) set the tone for GSA, but was lifted after surrendering the single. He struck out six and walked five.

“I was going to give him every opportunity to get a no-hitter if he could,” said GSA coach Dan Kane. “It was getting close there at the end [with the bases loaded], but Dusty’s thrown a lot of great innings for us.”

Bates, who beat Calais in Tuesday’s quarterfinal, gutted it out.

“I came out sore, [pitching on] three days’ rest the first time of the year,” Bates said. “The guys played a hell of a game behind me.”

The Eagles scored in five of their six innings, getting clutch hits and running the bases aggressively against a 13-5 Hodgdon team that experienced fielding problems.

The hosts collected 11 hits, including two apiece from Chris Sargent, Harrison Hines and Hans Reuter.

“We try, if we can, to put as much pressure on the defense as possible,” Kane said. “In the first two playoff games, we didn’t necessarily hit the ball that well, so we really didn’t do a lot of that.”

GSA jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first as Mark Clapp singled to center, stole second, took third on a passed ball and scored on Sargent’s fielder’s choice grounder.

The eventual winning run came in the second when Hines lofted a double to right-center, advanced on a wild pitch and rode home on Mike Astbury’s sacrifice fly.

The Eagles then reached Hawks lefthander Matt Day (6-2) for three runs in the third, aided by two Hodgdon errors. Sargent singled with one out, then raced home when Ryan Hutchins doubled to right-center.

Hutchins took third on an errant throw to the plate and scored when Hines’ pop fly was lost in the sun and dropped untouched on the infield grass. After Chris Candage was hit by a pitch, Astbury made it 5-0 when he beat out an infield single and the throw from shortstop went wide of first.

Sargent added an RBI double in the fourth and back-to-back doubles by Jed Garvey and Reuter produced a run in the sixth.

Hodgdon finally scored in the sixth as Chris Blanchette hit into a fielder’s choice, Ben Carton was hit by a pitch and Ryan Callnan walked, loading the bases.

Ryan Blanchette followed with his shallow pop fly down the right-field line, chasing Bates.

Josh Gott induced a double-play grounder to end the threat, then pitched a scoreless seventh to preserve the victory. Day’s seventh-inning single was the only other hit for the Hawks.

EAGLES 7, HAWKS 1

Hodgdon (13-5) George Stevens (17-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Griffin, ss 2 0 0 0 Clapp, ss 3 1 0

Day, p 2 0 1 0 Garvey, 2b 4 1 0

C. Blanchette, 1b 4 1 0 0 Reuter, rf 3 1

Carton, rf 2 0 0 0 Sargent, 3b 4 1 2

Callnan, 2b 2 0 0 0 Lowell, lf 4 0 0

R. Blanchette, lf 3 0 1 1 Hutchins, 1b 4 1

McAtee, c 2 0 0 0 Hines, dh 3 2 1

a-Quint 0 0 0 0 Bates, p 0 0 0

Currie, 3b 3 0 0 0 Candage, c 2 0 0

Condon, cf 3 0 0 0 b-Friedman 0 0 0

Astbury, cf 1 0 1 1

Henry, cf 1 0 0 0

Totals 23 1 2 1 Totals 29 7 11 6

a-ran for McAtee in the fifth; b-ran for Candage in the fifth

Hodgdon 000 001 0 ? 1

GSA 113 101 x ? 7

E?Griffin, Callnan; Clapp; LOB?Hodgdon 8; GSA 8; 2B?Hines, Hutchins, Sargent, Candage, Garvey, Reuter; DP?Clapp-Garvey-Hutchins; SF?Astbury; SB?R. Blanchette, Griffin 2, Day, Quint, C. Blanchette; Clapp, Reuter 2, Sargent, Friedman

Hodgdon IP H R ER BB SO

Day (L,6-2) 6 11 7 6 1 6

George Stevens IP H R ER BB SO

Bates (W,6-1) 5 1/3 1 1 1 5 6

Gott 1 2/3 1 0 0 1 1

HBP?Carton by Bates; Reuter, Candage by Day; WP?Day 3; PB?McAtee; T?1:50; ATT?250 (est.)