After winning the Division 4-6A championship and a first-round playoff series, Warren Central went into the summer with a ton of momentum on its side. With the 20-game varsity schedule winding down, the Vikings feel they’ve done a good job of not only keeping the roll going, but also building on it.

WC will wrap up its summer on Wednesday with a doubleheader against Northwest Rankin at Viking Field. Despite an 8-6 loss to St. Al in their last game, the Vikings are pleased with how June played out.

“We lost eight seniors and these younger guys really have worked hard to earn their spot. That’s what’s going to make the spring so interesting,” WC coach Josh Abraham said. “Last year, it looked to them like the hard work paid off. This summer has been an added increment to our offseason program. They’ve played hard and that’s what we’re looking for right now.”

Abraham wasn’t sure of WC’s record — most teams don’t keep official statistics during the summer — but said it was “probably about .500.” That has done little to dampen the team’s spirits.

Four starters, and eight seniors total, will return from this year’s division championship team. Senior center fielder Clayton Ashley said there’s competition among the players for starting jobs in 2011, as well as a sense of camaraderie that has given everyone a boost.

“We had two weeks off and that first game was like the first game of the playoffs. Nobody was sitting down saying it’s just summer league. Everybody was ready to play,” said Ashley, who had two hits in Thursday’s loss to St. Al. “We’re

competing with each other, but policing each other, too.”

Ashley added that WC’s younger players have not only meshed with their older peers, they’ve taken their place alongside them as clubhouse leaders.

“Experience-wise, we’re improving a lot. The seniors are supposed to be leaders, but I believe our leaders are our youngest players,” Ashley said.

With half the starting lineup to replace before next season, getting contributions from both upper and lower classmen will be vital to the Vikings’ hopes of a division championship repeat. Watching the start of that process has been fulfilling, Abraham said.

“There’s five or six guys that really have pushed to earn a job and we have seven or eight seniors coming back,” Abraham said. “It’s been fun to watch these guys maturing this summer.”