ORONO – George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill has won the last four Eastern Maine Class C baseball championships, not to mention state titles in 2004 and 2005.

Among the many reasons for that success is the Eagles’ ability to capitalize on any imperfection by an opponent while limiting their own miscues, an ability they displayed Friday in a 14-1 victory over Orono.

George Stevens outhit the Red Riots just 8-7, but capitalized on five Orono errors, eight walks and four hit batsmen to pull away in the late innings and improve its record to 3-0.

“You physically have to be ready to go and you mentally have to be ready to go against them,” said Orono coach Chris Bagley. “That is a good hitting team, and defensively I don’t know if I’ve seen a better team. You just have to come ready to go when you’re playing a team like that, plain and simple.”

Orono (3-1) did grab a 1-0 lead in the second inning on back-to-back singles by J. Spencer and Nathan Michaud and a wild pitch, but George Stevens took control with a three-run third inning capped off by senior first baseman Collin Henry’s two-run homer off Orono starter Travis Dunton.

That blast came on a first-pitch fastball that Henry drove well beyond the 360-foot sign on the fence in right field.

“I had a bad at-bat the first time up, and the next time I was thinking the first fastball he gives me I’m going to hit it,” said Henry. “He gave me one right down the middle, and I crushed it pretty much.”

That was all the offense GSA sophomore Josh Astbury required, as the righthander scattered six hits over six innings, striking out two and walking just one while hitting two batters. Caleb Hale pitched a scoreless seventh for the Eagles.

“I pitched OK,” said Astbury. “I missed quite a few spots, but we’ve got a great defense out there, especially Dan Larry at second base, and real good catching with Lucas {Marks] behind the plate.”

GSA extended its lead to 5-1 in the fifth on an RBI single by Henry and a sacrifice fly by Larry, and broke the game open with nine runs in its final two at-bats.

“[The home run] was a big momentum change, there’s no question,” said Bagley. “They can use hits like that to pump themselves up, and we’re in a situation where we’re still rebuilding and working on things.

“One of the things we have to do a better job of is that when somebody comes up with a hit like that, to keep our level high and still be ready to go.”

Marks had a two-run single to highlight the Eagles’ five-run uprising in the sixth, while Astbury hit a three-run triple in the seventh and scored the fourth run of the inning on the same play after an Orono throwing error.

Henry finished with four RBIs, while Marks added two singles and scored three runs. The Nos. 1 and 2 hitters in Eagles’ lineup, seniors Blake Wessel and Phineas Peake, also scored three runs apiece.

“Our goal is to basically come out and play better baseball every day,” said Wessel, “and I think we’ve been doing that so far.”

Dunton, Spencer and Jon Brothers each singled twice for Orono.

EAGLES 14, RED RIOTS 1

George Stevens (3-0) Orono (3-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Wessel, ss 3 3 0 0 Raymond, ss 4 0 0

Peake, cf 3 3 1 1 L. Bryant, cf 3 0 0

Henry, 1b 4 2 2 4 Dunton, p-rf 4 0 0

Marks, c 3 3 2 2 T. Bryant, 3b 3 0 0

Astbury, p 5 1 1 3 Winter, 1b 3 0 0

Hale, p 0 0 0 0 Brothers, rf-p 3 0 0

Gale, lf 4 0 1 0 Spencer, dh 2 1 0

Walton, lf 1 0 0 0 Doughty, lf 0 0 0

Larry, 2b 1 0 0 0 Michaud, c 3 0 0

Lawson, rf 1 0 1 0 Stout, 2b 2 0 0

Bridges, rf 3 0 0 0

Saunders, 3b 0 2 0 0

Ingraham, ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 29 14 8 10 Totals 27 1 7 0

George Stevens 003 025 4 – 14

Orono 010 000 0 – 1

E-T. Bryant, Dunton, Stout, L. Bryant, Raymond; Gale 2; LOB-George Stevens 7, Orono 9; 3B-Astbury; HR-Henry; SF-Larry; SB-Peake

George Stevens IP H R ER BB SO

Astbury (W,1-0) 6 6 1 1 1 2

Hale 1 1 0 0 0 1

Orono IP H R ER BB SO

Dunton (L,1-1) 5 7 10 7 5 2

Brothers 2 1 4 3 3 3

HBP-Saunders 2 (by Dunton and Brothers), Peake (by Dunton), Wessel (by Brothers); L. Bryant, Spencer (by Astbury); WP-Astbury 2; Brothers 3; BK-Dunton; PB-Marks; T-2:06; ATT-100 (est.)