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PARIS — Oxford Hills baseball coach Shane Slicer had a hunch that the wind would impact Wednesday’s game against Lewiston.

The Vikings took advantage of the wind blowing out to left-center and beat the Blue Devils 11-2 at Gouin Athletic Complex.

“We saw it in batting practice,” Slicer said. “I don’t know if the outfielders didn’t believe it or if they were way out there anyway. But a couple of guys did clock it and get it up there, for sure.”

The Vikings had three doubles and a handful of hard-hit singles to the outfield. They finished with 13 hits while Lewiston had six.

Batters also weren’t afraid to hit toward right field.

“The ball got up there and it started carrying,” Oxford Hills leadoff hitter Carter Holbrook said. “… Hey, if you barrel a ball and it gets going, it’s very effective. And so I think both teams, we slapped a lot of balls to the opposite field, got in the wind, got it going. I mean, (it) stretched some singles into doubles, which can change games.”

How did Oxford Hills win?

• Lewiston gained momentum early in the game when Jeffrey Randall sent a ball into the wind for a triple and later scored on a Lonnie Thomas groundout in the top of the first.

• Michael Caron had an RBI double in the top of the third that gave the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead.

• The Vikings got going in the bottom of the third when Jacoby Turcotte, the Vikings’ No. 2 hitter, hit a two-run single that put Oxford Hills up 3-2.

• Holbrook notched a double to score a run in the bottom of the fourth. Turcotte followed with an RBI single and Carter Wyman added a two-run single as the Vikings opened a 7-2 lead.

“I think that after the first two innings, we kind of got rolling,” Holbrook said. “We were putting the ball in play well in the first two innings, but nothing crazy. I think in that third inning, we started to catch fire, had a lot of activity with the bats. (We) started to score runs, and I think we rolled with it. We kept it going in the fourth and fifth, and then they started to cool off, and we fed with that energy, and then we just kept it going and kind of closed it out.”

• Gabe Damon’s two-run single highlighted Oxford Hills’ three-run bottom of the sixth inning.

They said it

• “We had a slow start to the year, we couldn’t really put the bat on the ball, we were having a hard time, so it’s just really nice to find a way and get some runs in because, I mean, offense is the best way to win.” — Carter Holbrook

• “This grass was a little different than what we played on. I’m not going to blame it on it, but it was a little slower than what we’re used to. But I think we’ve made all our plays. … Made a mistake here and there on overthrows on pickoff attempts, but other than that, we played a pretty solid game defensively. They just hit the ball the way we weren’t.”  — Lewiston coach Matt Bowen

Up next

• Lewiston: at Camden Hills (2-6) 4:30 p.m. Friday.

• Oxford Hills: vs. Bangor (5-2), 4 p.m Monday.