The end of Warren Central’s baseball season was sudden and, understandably, disappointing.

For what was supposed to be a bit of a rebuilding year, however, it was hard to find much to complain about.

The Vikings checked off a lot of program milestones before they were swept by Saltillo in the MHSAA Class 6A semifinals. And with only three starters graduating it looks like there’s no reason to think they won’t stay a contender in 2026.

“I think we had five guys sign from last year’s team. You don’t have a large senior group, so that means some underclassmen are doing some work. We were that way in ‘01 as well,” said Warren Central coach Randy Broome, referencing the program’s last state title team from 2001. “Especially as this run was going it was on the back of my mind, ‘OK, this has happened before why can’t it happen again?’”

Warren Central reached the Class 6A championship series in 2024 and lost to George County. Five players from that team signed with college programs, so a few growing pains were expected this year.

Those came in the first month of the season when the Vikings started 3-7. The first-year starters finally got their feet under them around spring break, however, and the Vikings won 17 of their next 18 games before losing two in a row to Saltillo.

Along the way, Warren Central reached the 20-win mark for the first time since 2019; won its third straight region championship; and reached the semifinal round of the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time in program history.

Although they weren’t able to punch through Saltillo and earn a rematch with George County in the Class 6A championship series, Broome said he was very pleased with what the 2025 Vikings accomplished.

“I’m proud of them,” Broome said. “Obviously, we did some things this year we hadn’t done in a while. That’s something we can hang our hat on and build on for next year, for sure.”

Warren Central will have to replace center fielder Hayes Loper, first baseman Lester Martin and pitcher/infielder Maddox Lynch as starters, as well as backup outfielder Hayden Blok.

The rest of the lineup will return, however, and some of them have plenty of baseball left. Infielders Tristan Jamison and Caden Cole, and outfielder Blake Caruthers all started as sophomores this season. Two more sophomores, Beau Bradley and Justin Greer, were key parts of the pitching rotation. Cole and Jamison also pitched.

Pitcher/infielder Nathaniel Moore, outfielder/pitcher Ryan Steed, catcher Trace Hood and designated hitter Jacob Kealhofer will also be back as seniors.

With that in mind, Broome said he was as excited for the future as he was proud of the present.

“We’re losing four seniors as a whole. A lot of guys got some experience, and we’re looking forward to some guys that might not have played a lot this year at the varsity level coming on, too,” Broome said. “We call the JV ‘Game 1 Guys’ and I thought they got better throughout the year. Let’s keep this burning desire in our hearts and our soul and let’s get back here again, because I have a feeling we’re going to have some dogfights with Saltillo the next couple of years.”