Armed with the title of reigning Class C state champion, George Stevens Academy is nevertheless taking a business-as-usual approach in preparation for the 2004 baseball season.

“It’s not so much just having the state championship,” said coach Dan Kane. “We try to be a solid team year in and year out.”

The Blue Hill-based Eagles, who defeated Jay 2-0 in last June’s state final to avenge a 5-3 loss to the Tigers in the 2002 championship game, will present a new look in their effort to return to the top of the Eastern Maine Class C ranks. Eleven seniors graduated from the 2003 squad, though several key veterans are back.

GSA features a top-of-the-line catcher in senior Harrison Hines, who will work with a potentially deep pitching staff that includes junior lefthander Dan Hilts. Hilts, sidelined by injury much of last spring, returned just in time to pitch a four-hit shutout in the state final. Other key returning players are senior pitcher-third baseman Adam Cousins, senior pitcher-second baseman Will Rosenthal, sophomore pitcher-first baseman Collin Henry, and sophomore shortstop Blake Wessel.

“We’ve got a very good catcher and good pitching depth,” Kane said. “If we can be strikeout pitchers, that will take a lot of pressure off our defense.”

Kane and the Eagles will rely on several new varsity performers to step into contributing roles this spring. Many of those players already have considerable experience of their own, either at the American Legion level or as members of the local Senior Little League (ages 15 and 16) team that won its district championship last summer and advanced to the state tournament.

“I think we have the potential to be a playoff team, but it depends on the growth of some of the first-year players at the varsity level,” said Kane.

With GSA’s season opener scheduled for April vacation week, indoor practices at present are focused on the fundamentals, such as pitchers building arm strength and the hitters getting accustomed to recognizing pitches.

“We haven’t been outside yet, haven’t even attempted it,” said Kane. “But we’re about where we usually are; we’re not ahead and we’re not behind.”

5 compete at wrestling nationals

Four-time state champion Chris Remsen capped off his senior season of wrestling for Camden Hills of Rockport by winning four of his six matches at the National High School Coaches Association Senior Wrestling Championships last weekend at the Public Hall Convention Center in Cleveland.

Remsen was one of five Maine wrestlers to participate in the event, which is open to high school seniors who are either state champions or top finishers in their weight class. He was joined at the senior nationals by Camden Hills teammates Jake Rollins and Nathaniel Boehmer, Decota Cotten of Noble of Berwick, and Jarred Porper of Marshwood of Elliot.

Remsen, the Class B champion at 145 pounds, scored a 13-6 decision over Ohio’s Bradley Marzec in his opening match, then was pinned in 3 minutes, 58 seconds by Matt Collum of Illinois, the eventual national champion in the weight class.

That dropped Remsen into the consolation-round competition, where he scored three straight victories by decision before being eliminated via a 9-4 loss to Curtis Roddy of Michigan. Roddy went on to place sixth in the division.

Cotten, the Class A state champion at 152 pounds, also went 4-2 at the nationals. He was pinned in his first match by Calvin DeVault of California to fall into the consolations, where he scored four straight wins by decision before being eliminated.

Porper, the 135-pound Class A state champion, Rollins, the Class B champ at 119 pounds, and Boehmer, the Class B third-place finisher at 171, each suffered two straight losses at the nationals.

Marston takes Skowhegan post

Skowhegan High has hired a familiar face in central Maine football circles to lead its football program. Mike Marston, a former head coach at Messalonskee High in Oakland and for the last three seasons the defensive coordinator at Skowhegan, will replace Bob LeCours, who stepped down after coaching the Indians for six years to take a teaching and coaching position in Florida.

Marston coached at Messalonskee for several seasons during the 1980s before leaving to become an assistant at Colby College in Waterville. He rejoined the high school coaching ranks in 1994, first at Skowhegan and later back at Messalonskee.

He returned to Skowhegan in 2001, helping the Indians earn three straight trips to the Pine Tree Conference playoffs. The Indians finished 5-4 in 2003, losing to Mt. Blue of Farmington 18-0 in the PTC quarterfinals.

Ernie Clark can be reached at 990-8045 or eclark@bangordailynews.net.