BLUE HILL – George Stevens Academy didn’t need a victory in its regular-season finale against Deer Isle-Stonington to maintain its hold on first place in the Eastern Maine Class C baseball standings.

But after being held to one run on nine hits in back-to-back losses to Mount Desert Island and Bucksport, Wednesday’s 10-2 win over the visiting Mariners provided the Eagles a timely dose of momentum.

“We’ve had a couple of games where we’ve been scuffling and trying to get hits to drop in,” said GSA coach Dan Kane. “We hit some balls pretty hard the last couple of games but couldn’t get them to drop, but today we hit the ball hard and got some of them to drop.”

Sophomore catcher Lucas Marks led that offense with an RBI triple in the first inning and a three-run double in the fourth, when 13-3 GSA scored four runs to take control.

Senior shortstop Blake Wessel added a two-run double, a single, and one of the top defensive plays of the season.

That came in the top of the second when Deer Isle-Stonington’s Ray Garcia bounced a chopper past pitcher Caleb Hale, leaving Wessel the lone option of barehanding the ball and quickly throwing on the run to first base – a play he made look routine.

“I saw he was getting down the line pretty quick,” said Wessel. “I started charging as soon as I saw the ball get by Caleb, and the ball kind of bounced up into my hand and I flipped it. I just got lucky.”

Center fielder Phineas Peake then tracked down a drive by the Mariners’ Ethan Hale to the left-center field gap as GSA prevented Deer Isle-Stonington from building any early momentum of its own.

“I’ve got some guys who can really play some defense,” said Kane. “The barehand play Blake made, most guys wouldn’t even think of trying it, and he made another play at the end of the game where he went into the hole to throw a guy out. Those are college plays, and that’s nice to see, and with anything in the outfield, Phinnie really runs a good show out there.”

Deer Isle-Stonington, in line for a high seed in Eastern D at 9-7, threatened in the first when Rob Brown drew a one-out walk and Jon Eaton singled to center. But Hale got Shane Eaton on a popup to Wessel and Eben Powers on a soft liner to third baseman Josh Astbury to end the inning.

“We had some opportunities early, and we talked after the game about how we need to capitalize on those situations,” said Deer Isle-Stonington coach Darren Eaton.

GSA’s Collin Henry drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the inning and scored on Marks’ double to left.

Peake had the first of his two singles in the third, and scored on Henry’s triple to left-center to extend GSA’s lead to 2-0. The Eagles scored four more runs in the fourth, with Marks’ bases-clearing double the key blow.

DI-Stonington reached Hale for an unearned run in the fifth, but GSA added four runs in the bottom of the inning for a 10-1 lead. Wessel’s two-run double keyed that rally, and he scored on Peake’s single to left.

Hale allowed two hits over five innings before Ross Gallagher and Henry each worked an inning of relief in a combined four-hitter.

“Caleb threw real well, one of his best outings of the season,” said Marks. “He had a lot of pop on his fastball, and good command. He shut them down and kept us in the game until we got a couple key hits.”

EAGLES 10, MARINERS 2

Deer Isle-Stonington (9-7) George Stevens (14-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

C. Ciomei, p-lf 4 0 0 0 Wessel, ss 4 2

Brown, cf 2 0 0 0 Peake, cf 4 2 0

J. Eaton, c 3 1 2 0 Henry, 1b-p 2 2 1

S. Eaton, 1b 3 0 0 0 Marks, c 4 0 4

Powers, 3b 3 0 0 0 Gale, rf-lf 3 0 0

Garcia, lf-p 3 0 0 0 Gallagher, dh-p 2 0 0

Hale, 2b 3 0 1 0 Lawson, lf 1 0 0

Adams, pr 0 1 0 0 Walton, pr 0 0 0

Pinkham, rf 2 0 1 0 Ingraham, 1b 0 0 0

Hardie, ss 2 0 0 0 Bridges, dh-rf 4 1 0

Hale, p 0 0 0 0

Astbury, 3b 0 1 0 0

Larry, 2b 1 0 0 0

Saunders, 2b 2 2 1 0

Totals 25 2 4 0 Totals 27 10 9 7

Deer Isle-Stonington 000 011 0-2

George Stevens Acad. 101 440 x-10

E-Hardie 2, J. Eaton, Garcia; Astbury, Marks; LOB-DI-Stonington 5, George Stevens 9; 2B-Wessel, Marks; 3B-Henry, Marks; S-Hardie; SB-J. Eaton; Peake 2, Henry, Gale, Astbury 2, Larry

DI-Stonington IP H R ER BB SO

C. Ciomei (L, 2-2) 4 5 6 2 6 2

Garcia 2 4 4 4 1 1

George Stevens IP H R ER BB SO

Hale (W, 3-0) 5 2 1 0 2 1

Gallagher 1 1 1 0 0 2

Henry 1 1 0 0 0 1

HBP-Astbury 2 (by C. Ciomei and Garcia); WP-Garcia 2, C. Ciomei; Gallagher; PB-J. Eaton; T-2:05; ATT-110 (est.)