Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Messalonskee was a memorable day for Oxford Hills coach Shane Slicer and the rest of the Vikings.

For starters, Corey Tielinen threw a no-hitter against the Eagles in his third varsity start.

As if that wasn’t enough suspense, senior pitcher/shortstop Garrett Olson tied the single-season school record for hits with two hits in the Vikes final game. Olson went 2-for-3 to finish the season with 31 safeties, tying the record set by Jake Parrott in 1998.

“He didn’t miss breaking the record by much, either,” said Slicer, who guided the Vikings to a 14-2 record and a possible No. 1 seed in the Eastern A playoffs in his first season at the helm. “He hit a laser beam to second base in his second at-bat and the guy made a good play on it. And we were two hitters away from getting him another chance in our last at-bat, but we couldn’t get around to him.”

Olson finished the season batting a gaudy .525 while scoring 27 runs and stealing 18 bases. As the Vikings’ No. 1 starter in their pitching rotation, he’s 5-1 with a 1.51 ERA.

As for the rest of the pitching rotation, Slicer said Tielinen’s performance Wednesday puts him in a difficult, if luxurious, position.

“He’s been our third starter and we wanted to see what he could give us for the playoffs. I don’t know what we’re going to do with him now,” Slicer said. “He threw as well as he had all year.”

Tielinen may get another chance to pitch before the real post-season begins, as the Vikings will face Mt. Ararat in the KVAC semifinals next week. The winner there will play the winner of Cony-Skowhegan for the conference title.

Mark it down

Chances are, the Vikings will have to face Mt. Ararat fireballer Mark Rogers in the KVACs. Oxford Hills had the good fortune of missing Rogers when they played Mt. Ararat earlier in the regular season.

“If you’re going to have to face him, it might as well be in the KVAC playoffs,” Slicer said. “It will be a good test for us.”

Rogers threw his first no-hitter of the season Monday against Mt. Blue, striking out 11. The rugged junior, who was clocked on the radar gun in the low 90s in the latter stages of the game, has fanned 106 batters in 54 innings this season.

As hard as Rogers throws, he’s been able to keep hitters off-balance with a good change up and a cutter that moves down and in on right-handed batters. Former University of Maine star Dale Plummer has worked with Rogers on expanding his repertoire and gaining confidence in pitches other than his blazing fastball and knee-buckling curve.

“Dale called us before the game and said ‘Tell him to throw the change up. Throw the change up,’ so we called a few to make him happy,” joked Mt. Ararat coach Craig Rogers.

Cougar count

Mt. Blue missed the KVACs this year, which is a rarity for their program. But considering that the Cougars lost eight starters from last year’s club, the fact that they’re preparing for the post-season with a 10-6 record, let alone vying for a home game in the quarterfinals, has surprised even some of the most optimistic observers, even coaches.

“If somebody would have bet me we’d have a 10-win season, which is kind of the bench mark we look at in this league, losing eight starters ” head coach Gary Parlin said. “We’re not rebuilding. We’ve got eight seniors on the team, guys that had to log some JV time, but this is a pretty good baseball team, I think.”

Pitching, defense and timely hitting have gotten Mt. Blue this far. Justin Tibbetts, who pitched very well while losing to Rogers during his no-no, is the ace of the pitching staff with a 5-2 record. But in a telling statistic that shows this is not a top-heavy staff, Tibbetts has just one of the Cougars’ last five wins. Junior Ben Saviello has pitched well in the second half of the season, which helped the Cougars win six of its last eight games.

Now, Parlin has a dependable one-two combination to take into the post-season.

“With Justin pitching, I like our chances in the playoffs, in the first game, and with Ben Saviello pitching I like our chances in the second game,” Parlin said.

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