Lately, Warren Central’s heroes are the guys throwing zeroes.

The Vikings’ pitching staff has posted three consecutive shutouts — two of them in playoff games — and is riding a 24-inning scoreless streak into their second-round MHSAA Class 6A playoff series against Madison Central, which begins Friday night.

The hot streak has the Vikings peaking at the right time as they try to make a push toward their first baseball state championship in 17 years.

“I think we’re starting to throw a lot more strikes and realizing that we’ve got one of the best defenses in the state, and if we throw strikes the defense is going to back you up,” said Warren Central pitcher Christian Oakes, who threw six of the scoreless innings against Hernando in Game 1 of a first-round series last week. “We’re just trying to go one game at a time. It doesn’t matter if they score 11 runs if we score 12. That’s still a win. But as a pitching staff we want to make them score the least amount we can, of course.”

Five pitchers — Oakes, Aaron Greene, Alan Kivett, Colin Standish and Caleb Sterling — have contributed to the streak, which has spanned four games. In the three shutouts, they have combined for 20 strikeouts and only walked two batters.

Warren Central coach Conner Douglas credited his pitchers’ ability to throw strikes and a solid defensive effort behind them for the streak. The Vikings have only made two errors in their last three games.

“We have a lot of guys we trust that we roll out there. The biggest thing right now is we’re throwing strikes and we’re playing really good defense. I’m not trying to jinx us, but I don’t know the last error we’ve made as far as a routine play,” Douglas said, adding that Sterling, who catches when he isn’t pitching, has also done a good job. “Caleb Sterling has done a fantastic job back there for us. He changes the game for us. He takes away the running game, which keeps double plays in order, and our pitchers get to relax a little more on the mound.”

Another big asset has been Standish. The tall, lanky senior has filled the role of closer in admirable fashion. He has six saves in 17 appearances this season — Warren Central has played 29 games — and has not allowed a run in his last eight outings.

Standish also has a 2-0 record and a 2.47 ERA. Despite not starting a game this season, he is third on the team behind Oakes and Kivett in innings pitched, with 34, and leads the staff in appearances. Kivett has 10 starts and is the only other WC pitcher in double figures in that category.

Standish’s personal scoreless streak has spanned the entire month of April and 10 innings total. He’s only allowed two hits and hasn’t walked a batter during it.
“You know when he goes out there and you hear that walkout song that it’s lights out,” Oakes said. “He’s going to give you a chance. He’s going to throw a lot of strikes and you’re going to have a bunch of groundballs.”

The walkout song Oakes refers to is the 1970s tune “Hooked on a Feeling,” which was more recently featured on the “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundatrack. The first 30 seconds of the song is a cartoonish tribal chant that has become beloved at Viking Field for the dominating pitching performance that often comes afterward.

“(Assistant coach Blake) Jobe actually picked it. I never even heard it until he pulled it out and started playing it,” Standish said with a laugh. “I heard it during the Meet the Vikes and I liked it.”

For all of their recent success, the Vikings (21-8) will face a major challenge with their second-round matchup against Madison Central (22-5).

The Jaguars beat WC 9-8 on a walk-off hit on March 10 and have dominated the series between the teams. Warren Central won when they played in 2016, but Madison Central has won 22 of the last 24 meetings over the past decade. They’ve only played once a year since 2014 and haven’t faced each other in the playoffs since 2011.

Despite the relatively infrequent meetings, Oakes said a rivalry exists between the teams that has bled over from other sports. Warren Central and Madison Central are regionmates in football, and Madison eliminated WC from the football playoffs last fall. Several members of Warren Central’s baseball team, including Standish, also play football.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, we want it a thousand. Most people in the fieldhouse would agree that Madison is one of our archenemies. We don’t like them. We only play them once or twice a year, but we like to beat them,” Oakes said.

Douglas felt confident that the Vikings could back up Oakes’ bragging. The razor-thin margin in their first meeting, as well as results against other top teams and the four-game winning streak they’re bringing into the series, confirms it, he said.

Warren Central played five of the eight division champions in Class 6A this season and beat four of them. Madison Central was the only one it lost to.

“I think the last couple of years we’ve been inexperienced. I think we’ve got a lot more,” Douglas said. “ It takes some time to change culture, and this year I think the schedule we’ve played, the teams that we’ve beaten, the proof is in the pudding that we can play with anybody and beat anybody.”

MHSAA CLASS 6A BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Warren Central vs. Madison Central
Game 1: Friday, 6 p.m., at Madison Central
Game 2: Saturday, 7 p.m., at Warren Central
Game 3: Monday, 6 p.m., at Madison Central
Series is best-of-three; Game 3 if necessary