STANDISH – The 3-hour trip to the Class D championship game did not go smoothly for Deer Isle-Stonington, but everything was perfect once the Mariners stepped on the baseball diamond.

Junior Collin Ciomel pitched five solid innings and was the catalyst on offense as Deer Isle-Stonington rolled to an 11-2 victory over Rangeley for the Class D crown Saturday at Mahaney Diamond on the campus of Saint Joseph’s College.

It was Deer Isle-Stonington’s second state crown in three years. The Mariners beat North Yarmouth for the 2005 title.

The Mariners arrived late for the scheduled noon game after getting lost on their journey from Downeast Maine. But they scored twice in the first inning and never looked back.

“They are a great hitting team,” Rangeley coach Mark Gordon said. “We’d heard that from reports, but we didn’t have any planned (strategy) for them. It was some untimely errors and a couple other things that hurt us.”

Rangeley hurt itself with four errors. Its pitchers hit three batters and several Mariners’ hits fell in front of Rangeley’s outfielders. Rangeley starter Luke Hammond constantly fell behind in the count, and the Mariners (11 hits) waited it out.

The Lakers, who had upset top-ranked Richmond to win its first regional title, were baffled by Collin Ciomel’s breaking ball. Ciomel struck out seven.

Rangeley was held in check until Ryan Gordon (two hits) singled to lead off the fourth for Rangeley’s first hit.

With one out, David Raymond singled and Ben Bliss was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kent Maderia singled home the first run and Raymond scored on Zeke Hall’s fielder’s choice. The threat ended when Quinn Philbrick grounded out.

“Collin is the ace,” Deer Isle-Stonington coach Darren Eaton said. “He won the state game as a freshman. The reason I took him out in the sixth was because he had a blister and was starting to struggle. Plus, I wanted to give senior (Raymond Garcia) an opportunity to throw.”

Rangeley had a golden chance in the sixth when Bliss, Maderia and Philbrick all walked to load the bases with two outs. The Mariners escaped when Roy White’s grounder forced Philbrick at second.

“We had a couple of chances,” coach Gordon said. “Their pitcher kept his composure. We were happy to get here, and I don’t think the kids had butterflies.”

The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the first on RBIs by Jon and Shane Eaton.

Deer-Isle Stonington iced the game with nine runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Ciomel had three singles and scored twice, while Rob Brown slugged a two-run double and Garcia knocked in two runs with a single.

“This is a young team,” Gordon said. “We only graduate three, so we’ll be back.”

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