AUGUSTA – Hours before No. 3 Oxford Hills was scheduled for a showdown with No. 2 Cony in an Eastern A semifinal baseball contest, lady luck didn’t appear willing to grace the Vikings with her presence.

Moments before they were scheduled to depart from Oxford Hills, the Vikings discovered they were unable to secure a bus for transportation. The Vikings resorted to a couple of vans, a pick-up truck, and an SUV to deliver the squad to the game.

If that wasn’t enough, a brief shower greeted them upon arrival in Augusta.

But during pre-game preparations, senior Garrett Olson sent the first pitch during batting practice over the left field fence. With their luck changing, the Vikings shook off their pre-game woes to escape with a 3-1 victory.

“I think Cony came in a little overconfident,” Vikings coach Shane Slicer. “I don’t think they thought we were as good as we are, just by the way they were talking in the dugout. But they understood quickly and found out that we came to play.”

Brent Grenier kick started the Vikings offense in the top of the first inning when he ripped a 2-1 pitch to deep left center field for a triple.

Grenier waited at third as Cony’s Chris Tupper struggle on the mound. The southpaw walked the next three batters to force in Grenier with the first run. After a strikeout, Tucker issued another walk to Kevin Skalski to force Joe Baker with the second run.

The Rams escaped when Chris Henderson was caught trying to steal home.

The Vikings added another run in the top of the fifth inning. Corey Saunders led off with a double, advanced to third on Grenier’s sacrifice and scored on Joe Baker’s sacrifice fly.

“When Saunders led off with a double, that was a key hit by a sophomore,” said Slicer. “I think that third run really boosted our confidence because we had been in this situation before, and one run isn’t enough because the home team has an advantage.”

Vikings pitcher Corey Tielinen hit cruise control through the first four innings when he gave up three hits and didn’t allow a runner past second.

The Rams finally put Tielinen in a jam by loading the bases with two outs in the fifth. A wild pitch bounced past catcher Mat Diffin, allowing Miles Whitlock to score from third cut Oxford Hills’ lead to 3-1.

The Rams threatened again in the sixth when tey loaded the bases again, but Tielinen struck out pinch-hitter Greg Sousa and got Adam Vachon to pop out to short to get out of the inning unharmed.

“My teammates played great defense behind me today,” Tielinen said. “When bases got loaded I just told myself I had to throw strikes and luckily they popped a few up and hit a few grounders and we got out of it.”

Garrett Olson took over for the Vikings in the bottom of the seventh and issued two walks after retiring the first batter. But Olson got the Mike Vallee and Brandon Cummings to each hit pop ups to record the final outs.

“Anytime you beat Cony in this part of the season you’ve played good baseball. They’ve played very sound and we were on their field,” Slicer said. “They had their opportunities and defensively we just kept hanging in there.”

The Vikings advance to the Eastern A final in Bangor on Wednesday, where they will take on Mt. Ararat.

“We are ready for our third time against Mt. Ararat. We will have our hand full with Mr. Rogers, but out team is ready for the challenge,” Slicer said.