Turn Two: Hayfield’s quest to repeat as state champs underway

(ABC 6 News) — When one hears "turn two" in baseball, a double play comes to mind. For the Hayfield Vikings, it has a deeper meaning as they will attempt to repeat as Class A state champions.

Monday morning the team departed for St. Cloud, where they will be the #1 seed and take on New Ulm Cathedral Tuesday at 10 a.m.

The trio of Nolan Klocke, Karver Heydt, and Easton Fritcher lead the Vikings. Head coach Kasey Krekling says Klocke will take the mound first for the Vikings. He’s emerged as the ace this season with Fritcher nursing a groin injury. Klocke is 7-0 with two saves and a 0.70 ERA.

Fritcher spoke about the pressure of repeating as defending champs.

"Like it was last year," Fritcher said. "When we did it in basketball, the baseball team knew we were going to be good, knew we were going to be competitive. The pressure was there especially now that it’s back-to-back-to-back-to-back. The pressure’s there but we’ve been handling the pressure very well, we just go out there and compete and that’s all you can do."

Hayfield is averaging nearly 10 runs this postseason. The team feels if they can keep up that hot stretch, they’ll be a tough out because the defense is top-tier with 10 shutouts on the season.