LEWISTON — A question mark before the season started, pitching has been Oxford Hills’ most reliable asset in its climb to the top of the KVAC standings. And it’s only getting better.

Three days after Dalton Rice frustrated then-No. 1 Hampden Academy with a six-hitter, Ryan Godin threw six hitless innings against Lewiston and combined with Garrett Fillebrown on a one-hitter in a 9-2 win.

It was the ninth win in a row for the Vikings (10-1).

In 6 2/3 innings, Godin struck out four, walked five and kept the Blue Devils hitless until Eric Soucy led off the seventh with an infield hit. Godin also led the offense by reaching base three times in four plate appearances with a double, single and a walk, along with a run scored. Rice was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

“My arm feels great. I felt comfortable,” Godin said. “I’ve been resting and doing my running so I’m always prepared for the games. I was hitting my spots.”

Godin’s command lapsed periodically, but he effectively spotted his fastball and curve to keep the Blue Devils (7-4) off balance. The lone hit came on a roller to third base that Ty Martin had to charge to his right and make an off-balance throw to first. The throw was off the mark, but Soucy likely would have beaten a good throw.

“(Losing the no-hit bid) really doesn’t matter to me. What matters is to get the win,” Godin said. “We’re all pitching well. We all just want to win games.”

“Ryan was awesome,” Oxford Hills coach Shane Slicer said. “I thought (Lewiston starter Brian) Wigant pitched great at the beginning of the game. We made some plays behind Ryan and they kind of booted it around a little bit and let us get into the game.”

Wigant struck out seven through the first 2 2/3 innings, but he hit Ben Bowie to lead off the third. Bowie stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Rice’s two-out single.

The Vikings added to their lead in the fourth after Jordan Croteau got a second chance courtesy of a controversial non-call.

With one out, Croteau hit a pop foul about one-third of the way up the first base line. Wigant and first baseman Eddie Emerson chased it, Wigant collided with Croteau in the base path and the ball dropped between the pitcher and first baseman. Interference was not called, and Croteau promptly lined the next pitch for a base hit.

“(The umpires) felt that the first baseman had the best play on the ball and so it didn’t affect the play because the pitcher wouldn’t have had it,” said Lewiston coach Dave Jordan, who briefly argued the play.

Godin and Riley Chickering immediately followed Croteau with singles to make it 2-0. The first of six Lewiston errors plated Chickering for a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings got another unearned run in the fifth when a pop fly behind third base dropped between the shortstop and left fielder. They added five more in the sixth on four Lewiston errors and RBI singles by Nick Bowie and Dylan Cox.

“It was tough for us, a little nerve wracking after Friday (against Hampden), just to get the same intensity that we had on Friday. But we manufactured some runs and put the ball in play,” Slicer said.

Lewiston had chances to keep the pace early. It stranded a runner at third in the first. Another runner was doubled up at second when Michael Wong hit a sharp liner to second baseman Nick Attaliades-Ryan.

The Devils couldn’t make Godin pay for a pair of walks in the fifth, and another runner was called out for making an attempt for second (turning the wrong way) after reaching first on a two-out error in the sixth.

“(Godin) hit his spots well, seemed to have a lot of movement on the ball,” Jordan said. “We didn’t really have a lot of solid contact. The one that Michael Wong had, if we could have broken through there, it might have been a little different. But you still have to make plays in the field and hits spots pitching. Oxford just played a very clean game, and that’s the reason why they’re No. 1 right now.”

Slicer lifted Godin after Soucy’s single, a walk and an error spoiled his shutout bid. Garrett Fillebrown got the final out.

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