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If you build it, they will come.

The Hayfield baseball program has done a lot of building ever since head coach Kasey Krekling took over in 2012. The program went to state for the first time in 2019, the MSHSL cancelled the 2020 season due to COVID-19 regulations, the Vikings won their first ever state title in 2021 and they took second place in state in 2022.

As the baseball has gotten better, Hayfield’s facilities have improved vastly as well. Over the last few years, the Vikings have added lights, a full scoreboard, a press box, renovated dugouts, new seating for fans, and a fresh new sound system.

In an era where spring sports are sometimes played in front of sparse crowds on chilly afternoons, the Vikings have brought baseball back in Hayfield in a big way. During a doubleheader last week against Cherry and Blooming Prairie, there was music cranking out of the sound system, a lively P.A. announcer and a full fledged concessions booth. The fans were loud and lively and most of them stayed until the end of the six-hour baseball marathon.

Those things are all common for section tournament games, but these games were played in early April. 

While Hayfield has a lot of new players on this year’s team, the fire has not died out. Many of Kreklings players spend late nights at the ballpark taking batting practice under the lights, and they’re all determined to carry on the success that the teams before them did.

When Krekling, a Hayfield grad himself, took over as head coach, the Vikings were one win away from the state tournament and they had many postseason runs come up within a game or two of state before they finally won Section 1A in 2019.

Krekling, who coaches everything from girls basketball, youth baseball and even wiffle ball, has put in the hard work and the Vikings trusted in the process. They have created one of the best high school baseball environments in the area and the Vikings will be a team that is tough to beat for years to come.