GORHAM – The curveballs from George Stevens Academy pitcher Dan Hilts started tumbling, as if over Great Falls, in the first inning. The hits from a deep GSA lineup started coming in waves in the fourth. And there was little St. Dom’s could do to stop the oncoming deluge.

GSA smashed 15 hits and Hilts baffled the Saints at the plate and on the basepaths as the Eagles picked up their second straight Class C state title with a decisive 12-2 win Saturday at Gorham High School.

Will Rosenthal (three RBIs, two runs scored), Forrest Wardwell (three runs) and Collin Henry (two runs) collected three hits apiece to lead GSA (17-3). Jack Lavoie had two hits for St. Dom’s (15-3).

“We just jumped on them early and often. Even in the first inning, we banged the ball,” said GSA coach Dan Kane. “It was just a matter of time. If we stayed in rhythm, stayed patient, (the hits) were going to fall.”

The Eagles made solid contact off Saints’ starter Ian Pullen from the start, but didn’t have a hit to show for it until the third. St. Dom’s got in the hit column first on an infield single to lead off the second by Jack Lavoie, but Hilts immediately picked him off first.

“I think that set the tone early,” Hilts said. “It got them to be more worried about what was going on at first base and they couldn’t have a running game.”

“We took ourselves out of a couple of innings where I felt we might have been able to score some runs,” said Saints’ coach Allan Turgeon. “In high school baseball, momentum swings and that kind of took the wind out of our sails. George Stevens is a great team. They know the fundamentals and they executed very well today.”

The hits started falling for GSA in the third. Wardwell led off the frame with a double down the left field line. Phineas Peake followed with a hard bunt to the first base side of the mound that Pullen overran, allowing Peake to reach. Rosenthal’s single to right scored Wardwell. With two outs, Harrison Hines looped a single off the glove of an outstretched Josh Dwinal to plate Peake.

Pullen, coming off an eight-inning performance a week ago against Telstar, seemed to hit the wall in the fourth. Blake Wessel (two hits) led off with a single, stole second, then, following a walk and a pitching change that brought Ryan Turgeon to the mound, scored when Wardwell’s chopper to third took a bad hop over Brady Blackman’s glove. Rosenthal followed with a two-run double into the right-center field gap, then scored on an Adam Cousins single. A two-run error by the Saints’ infield made it 8-0.

“Ian threw a lot of pitches last time. We were counting on him rebounding, but that was the first time he’d gone over five innings in a game,” said Turgeon. “His fastball didn’t have quite the oomph on it, and his curveball he had trouble throwing for strikes. When you get behind on hitters, that’s a tough situation to be in.”

“They’re a great team,” said Pullen, who suffered his first defeat of the season (5-1). “Fifteen hits, and they sprayed the ball around.”

St. Dom’s started chipping away in the fifth as Hilts appeared to tire. Brent Cary’s sacrifice fly, Pullen’s triple and an RBI single by Turgeon made it 8-2, but the Saints lost an opportunity to whittle the deficit down a little more with a missed hit-and-run sign that got another potential runner wiped out at second base.

The GSA southpaw, who shut out Jay in last year’s state championship, seemed to have a second wind when he returned to the mound in the sixth. He was able to finish the game when his offense provided him with four more insurance runs in the seventh.

“Last Tuesday when (Hilts) pitched, he struggled,” said Kane. “Very seldom does he go two bad days in a row. I figured the odds were in our favor.”