Marks sparks Eagles

BLUE HILL ? Shut out through five innings Wednesday afternoon, the George Stevens Academy baseball team was in desperate need of some energy.

The Eagles found it in a freshman, catcher Lucas Marks.

Marks’ two-run double ignited a nine-run rally in the bottom of the sixth, lifting the two-time defending Class C state champions to a 9-2 victory over Class D Deer Isle-Stonington.

Blake Wessel led off the GSA sixth with a walk, and Collin Henry was hit by a pitch from DI-Stonington starter Ray Garcia, who had limited the Eagles to three hits through five innings.

That marked the end of Garcia’s day on the mound, and after reliever Thomas Robbins struck out the first batter he faced, Marks drilled a game-tying double to the gap in left-center, just eluding the dives of Mariner outfielders Nick Ciomei and Rob Brown.

“All I knew was I needed to get a hit to help my team out, and I just gripped it and ripped it, I guess,” said Marks, who finished with two doubles to pace the Eagles’ six-hit attack. “I was expecting a fastball, and I was really hoping to myself that I’d hit it hard.”

By the time the inning ended, GSA (6-2) capitalized on two hit batsmen, an infield error and two more walks before Henry ripped a three-run double and scored on a single by Ross Gallagher.

“I decided the first good pitch, I’m going to hit it hard and that’s all I did,” said Henry. “It was down and away, and I took it out to center.”

Henry also earned the pitching win with a complete-game five-hitter. The junior left-hander struck out seven and walked no one in a 96-pitch performance that included 74 strikes.

“That’s his thing, he throws strikes and usually comes right after you,” said GSA coach Dan Kane.

But Henry was outpitched through five innings by Garcia, a sophomore right-hander who baffled the Eagles with his curveball and good location.

Henry held DI-Stonington hitless until the fourth, when Bryant Ciomei hit a leadoff single and scored on a ground single to right by Nick Ciomei.

The Mariners (2-2) extended their lead to 2-0 in the fifth. Jon Eaton led off with an infield single, was sacrificed to second by Garcia and scored on a two-out single up the middle by Collin Ciomei.

Nick Ciomei led DI-Stonington’s offense with two singles.