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HAYFIELD – The Hayfield baseball team spent a good part of six hours at their home ball park and they came away with a 9-7 win over Cherry and an 11-1 win over Blooming Prairie Friday.

The hours spent at the field is nothing new for the Vikings, as they are always begging their head coach Kasey Krekling for more time on the field. A lot of that work ethic comes from graduated players Nolan Klocke, who is now at Luther College and Easton Fritcher, who is now at the University of Minnesota.

“They learned so much from those guys. They saw how much work that Easton (Fritcher) and Nolan (Klocke) put in and they’re not as gifted as those guys, but they’ve put in as much work, if not more work, because they want to become those guys,” Krekling said. “There are nights here where I have the lights on until midnight because they want to keep hitting. I’m a lucky coach because I have some committed baseball players.”

Hayfield (3-0 overall) was leading BP (0-3 overall) 6-1 after four innings, but the Vikings put up five runs in the fifth to enact the 10-run rule. Aidan Nelson had a two-out, three-run double and Zander Jacobson drove Nelson home to end the game.

“We’ve just got to keep hitting the ball. For a second, I thought it would be closer. It was nice to break it open,” said Nelson, who was three-for-four with four total RBIs. “Those guys last year really taught us how to work hard. They showed us what Hayfield baseball should be like every year. They set a standard for us.”

Hayfield sophomore Eric Bermea struck out eight to score his first varsity mound win. Bermea was a designated hitter on last year’s team that finished second in Class A. Bermea was also the ace pitcher on the Hayfield Junior Legion team that went to state last summer.

“I just wanted to throw strikes and have my defense do the work. I was trying to challenge their batters,” Bermea said. “We all have to play a part, and that’s what we’re doing. It’s showing on the scoreboard.”

Carson Ingvalson had the lone RBI for BP.

BP 0 0 1 0 0  –  1     3  1

Hayfield 0 2 2 2 5  –  11  13  1

Hayfield pitching: Eric Bermea (W) 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 8 K

Hayfield hitting: Ethan Pack, 0-for-3, RBI, R, SB, BB; Hunter Simonson, 0-for-1, 2 BBs, 2 SB, R; Aidan Nelson, 3-for-4, 2 doubles, 4 RBIs, 3 R; Zander Jacobson, 3-for-4, 2 RBIs; Isaac Nelson, 2-for-3, R; Cole Selk, 2-for-2, double, RBI, R; Bermea, 1-for-1, RBI, R; Corbin Krueger, 1-for-2, RBI; Jack Thoe, 1-for-3, SB, R, BB; Kevin Hodge, R

BP pitching: Zach Hein (L) 4 1/3 IP, 11 H, 3 BB, 11 ER, 1 K; Alex Lea, 1/3 iP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 K

BP hitting: Jesse Cardenas, 1-for-3, R, SB; Carson Ingvalson, 1-for-3, RBI; Alex Lea, 1-for-2; Lucas Schammel, 0-for-2; Sam Pirkl, 0-for-2; Brady Kittelson, 0-for-2; Lane Lembke, 0-for-2; Carter Bishop, 1-for-2, double; Luke Heingartner, 0-for-2

Cherry 5 0 0  0 1 1  0  – 7  3  6

Hayfield 2 1 3  1 1 0  X  – 9 2  4

Hayfield pitching: Ethan Pack (W) 4 IP, 2 H, 7 BB, 5 R, 3 ER, 6 K; Jack Thoe (S) 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K 

Hayfield hitting: Ethan Pack 0-for-1, 4 R, 1 SB; Jack Beck 1-for-2; Cole Selk 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 R; Corbin Krueger 0-for-1 2 R; Aidan Nelson 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 SB; Zander Jacobson 0-for-3 1 R; Isaac Nelson 0-for-3; Jack Thoe 0-for-2, 1 RBI, 1 SB; Hunter Simonson 0-for-4