BANGOR, Maine — It’s not easy to reach Easely.

But, that’s just what the DuBois Senior League All-Star baseball team did Tuesday morning, pulling out a hard fought 3-1 victory against Oxford, Massachusetts, in the East Region if-necessary championship game to punch its ticket to the World Series in Easely, South Carolina.

It was the third meeting in four days between the two teams in Maine, with the two state champions splitting the first two matchups.

DuBois won the first meeting, 10-0 in 5 innings, in Saturday’s winner’s bracket final in a game that was scoreless after three innings.

Massachusetts bounced back out of the loser’s bracket and beat DuBois, 7-2, in Monday’s first regional final, which was Oxford’s second game of the day after beating Delaware, 12-1, in the loser’s bracket final earlier in the day. That contest was pushed back from Sunday night due to weather, which meant the winner-take-all title game had to be played Tuesday morning.

DuBois used that time to regroup over night and came back with a strong all-around performance when it mattered most.

The Pennsylvania champs used some timely hitting coupled with strong pitching and defense to pull out the 2-1 victory to win its second straight major tournament in the if-necessary game. DuBois won its state title with a 6-3 win against Newville after first falling to Newville, 7-2, in the first title game.

And, DuBois turned to the same two pitchers as it did in that win vs. Newville to continue its magical summer run, as Bryson Kail and Brody Knouse earned the save and win, respectively, in the team’s second straight win or go home contest.

Kail got the start Tuesday and threw 5 2/3 strong innings before hitting the 95-pitch limit. He allowed one run (earned) on four hits, while striking out three and walking a pair.

Knouse relieved Kail with two outs and one on in the sixth and promptly gave up a single to Andy Collins that scored special pinch runner Adam Sliwoski to make it 3-1.

Knouse slammed the door shut after that though, striking out Joe Ricardi to end the sixth before retiring the side in order in the seventh to finish off the win.

He got Chase Reyes to ground out to shortstop Wes Clyde to end the game and send DuBois to the World Series in what was truly a special moment for the righty.

With the win, Knouse — along with teammates Evan Burton, Nate Witherite and London Duncan — became the first players in the 76-year history of the DuBois Little League to reach a second World Series in their careers.

The quartet were all 14-year-olds on last year’s Junior League squad that reached the World Series in Taylor, Mich. Assistant coach Eric Burton also had been part of both World Series teams.

The remainder of this year’s squad are all 16-year-olds on what is just the fourth DuBois team to qualify for a World Series event.

The first was the 1986 Senior League squad, which made the World Series when it was held in Kissimmee, Fla., and finished fourth. The other World Series qualifier was the 2002 Junior League team that also made a trip to Taylor, Mich.

“What an awesome win for our guys,” said DuBois manager Tim Kail. “The guys bounced back from yesterday, and it really was another great team win. Bryson came up big for us with another strong pitching performance, then Brody came in and closed the door. We also got a couple big hits when we needed, and the guys played great defensively, which is something that hut us yesterday (Monday).

“Winning this really special for all the kids and the parents, and everyone else who is supporting them. They are excited to make the World Series and experience everything that goes along with that. A couple of the guys got to do that this year, an we’ll see how this team does once we get there.”

DuBois came out of the gate strong Monday morning in a game that started at 10 a.m. The PA state champs jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings and never looked back, thanks in large part to Kail who once again came up big for his team when their backs were up against the wall.

Kail retired the side in order in the top of the first, getting a pair of nice defensive plays in the process.

DuBois switched Witherite from center to left field for the game, and the move paid off as he had four putouts — including a nice running catch in the gap for the first out in the first inning.

Knouse followed with a nice at play at third, picking a short hop at third before firing across the diamond for the third out.

DuBois carried that momentum into the bottom of the inning and quickly put together a rally against Massachusetts starter Jared Magnusson.

The PA champs loaded the bases with one out on walks by Wes Clyde and Burton around a single by Jack Statler. Knouse plated the game’s first run on a sac fly to left that saw Jacoby Buiowski catch the ball near the wall in foul territory.

Clyde easily scored, but that proved to be the only run DuBois got in the inning, as shortstop Jeff Guzman made a diving stop on a ball hit up the middle by Isaac Dennison and threw him out at first to strand a pair of runners.

Kail worked around a two-out error in the second before his offense got a second run in the bottom half of the inning.

Witherite led off the frame with a double to center and scored two batters late to make it 2-0 when Duncan smacked a one-out single to left.

Massachusetts tried to make some noise in the third, as Kail hit Bubioski with to outs and Guzman beat out an infield single. Kail halted any thoughts of a rally there, getting Reyes to pop up to Knouse at third to end the inning.

The stayed 2-0 into the bottom of the fourth before DuBois tacked on another insurance run to make it 3-0.

Witherite helped jump-start this rally as well with a single to left with one away. Easton Harris then flew out to left, but Duncan kept the inning going with a walk to roll over the lineup.

Clyde followed with a single to right to plate Witherite, while Statler smacked a single of his own to load the bases. That’s all DuBois could muster though, as Magnusson got Kail to fly out to center to leave the bases full.

Those three runs proved to be enough for DuBois to punch its ticket to the World Series though.

Massachusetts didn’t go away quietly though.

Oxford loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth on a pair of hits and a walk, but Kail got Xavier Higgins to fly out to Witherite in left to leave the bases loaded.

Kail then retired the first two hitters in the sixth as he went over 90 pitches, but Gale doubled with two away on the righty’s 95th pitch.

Knouse came on at that point and was called for a balk, moving Gale to third, before giving up the RBI single to Collins that made it 3-1. Knouse rolled from there though, retiring the final for batters he faced to close out the win.

The team is leaving for the World Series today at 10:30 a.m. from City Park with an escort out of town. DuBois plays the Central Region champion in the opening game of the World Series on Saturday at 9 a.m.

DUBOIS 3,

MASSACHUSETTS 1

Score by Innings

Massachusetts 000 010 0 — 1

DuBois 110 100 x — 3

Massachusetts—1

Jacoby Buniowski lf 3000, Jeff Guzman ss 4020, Chase Reyes 3000, Xavier Higgins c 3000, Owen Leavey cf 2000, Mason Foskett 1b 3000, Adam Sliwoski spr 0000, Matt Gale rf 3110, Andy Collins 2b 3011, Joe Ricardi dh 3010, Jared Magnusson p 0000. Totals: 27-1-4-1.

DuBois—3

Wes Clyde ss 2111, Jack Statler 2b 3020, Bryson Kail p-1b 3000, Evan Burton 1b-3b 2000, Brody Knouse 3b-p 2001, Isaac Dennison c 3000, Nate Witherite lf 2220, Easton Harris rf 3000, London Duncan cf 2011. Totals: 22-3-6-3.

Errors: Mass 0, DuBois 1. LOB: Mass 8, DuBois 6. 2B: Gale; Witherite. SF: Knouse. HBP: Buniowski (by Kail). SB: Witherite. CS: Witherite (by Higgins).

Pitching

Massachusetts: Jared Magnusson-6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO.

DuBois: Bryson Kail-5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1 HB; Brody Knouse-1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO.

Winning pitcher: Kail. Losing pitcher: Magnusson. Save: Knouse.