HAYFIELD —With just two starters returning from last year’s team that finished 11-7 overall, the Vikings weren’t exactly counting on 2015 to be their best baseball season in memory.

Then something funny happened. The Vikings won seven of their first 10 games to and they’ve scored two wins over Class AA teams that were ranked at the time Hayfield played them.

Hayfield has risen behind a mixture of veterans like seniors Cam Rutledge and Andrew Becker who have melded with a group of less experienced players like sophomore Adam Fjerstad and junior Adam Younge.

“I thought we’d go through a little more growing pains and we still are, but we’ve found ways to win,” Hayfield head coach Kasey Krekling said. “It’s not like we’re playing flawless ball and we can still play a lot better. It’s nice to see that we’re winning even though we’re not playing flawless.”

The Vikings won seven of their first eight games to start this season, and now they’ve lost two straight games where they scored just one run in each contest. The team also has a lot of key section games remaining, so it is trying not to get ahead of itself.

“We’re trying to keep a level head,” said Rutledge, who has been a starter since he was a freshman. “We weren’t sure how it was going to go and we just want to keep playing the best ball we can. We want to peak around playoff time.”

Rutledge has emerged as a strong leader on this year’s squad and Krekling trusts in him to teach the game to some of the younger players on the roster. Hayfield’s first-year varsity players have done a solid job of taking advice from their elders.

“You just listen to the older kids and what they have to say and you learn from every single mistake you make,” Younge said.

The Vikings suffered a setback last season when they were knocked off by Lyle-Pacelli in a home playoff game, but they’ve used that loss as motivation this season. The team has come to play every day and it’s put in the extra time at practice.

“We play small ball and we do our thing,” Fjerstad said. “We’re more of a team than in past years. We’re all together and we pick each other up when we get down. We stay up for most of the game.”

Hayfield’s strength has come from its pitching so far this season as it has held five of its opponents to two runs or less. The Vikings haven’t been racking up strikeouts either, they’ve just been making solid pitches and playing defense.

“Our pitchers are throwing a lot of strikes and we’re trusting the fielders to make the plays that we need to make,” Becker said.

Hayfield has nine games remaining this season and the Vikings are hoping to make a run an HVL Blue Division title and a high seed in the Section 1A tournament.

Krekling said his squad is ready for whatever awaits them.

“They expect to win and that’s nice to see with a young team. They aren’t scared of anybody,” Krekling said. “It’s a great start, but it doesn’t mean anything if we go out and lose five in a row. We’re still working hard and trying shore everything up.”