There’s an old saying about the difference between fluke success and sustained success: “Anyone can do it once. Do it again.”

By now, Warren Central has done it again and proved that it has successfully emerged from several years of mediocrity to become one of the top baseball programs in Mississippi.

The Vikings finished 21-8 this season — seven of the losses were by a total of 11 runs — and won their second consecutive Division 4-6A championship. It’s the second time in three seasons they’ve surpassed the 20-win mark, and their fifth consecutive winning season.

The architect behind Warren Central’s rise is coach Conner Douglas, who has now earned The Vicksburg Post’s Baseball Coach of the Year award three times in a row.

“As a coaching staff, we’ve got it together and we are where we want to be. Baseball is a cruel game, but we’ve put it where we want to be,” Douglas said. “Having a name on the chest to where people say, ‘We have to play our best baseball to beat you,’ that’s where we want our program to be.”

This season, everyone had to play their best to beat Warren Central. The eight losses all came against teams that won at least one playoff series.

Other than a 10-0 debacle of a loss in Game 1 of their second-round Class 6A playoff series against Northwest Rankin, the Vikings didn’t lose a game by more than three runs.

Warren Central won back-to-back division championships for the first time since 2001-02 and went undefeated in the division. Outside of division opponent Greenville and MAIS foe Central Private, every team WC played this season made the playoffs.

“Winning 20 ballgames with the schedule we played is something to be proud of,” Douglas said.

Douglas took over as Warren Central’s coach in 2012, when the program had had one winning season in the previous five years, and has won at least 18 games each of the last four. He has a 97-57 record during his tenure.

This year’s success was built around a whole team approach. Douglas shuffled 17 players in and out of the lineup on a regular basis, with several others making frequent appearances as courtesy runners or defensive replacements. Twenty of the 27 players on the roster appeared in at least eight games.

Douglas said strong team chemistry helped everyone buy into their roles, no matter how large or how limited, and created a team that was greater than the sum of its parts.

Four players have signed with junior colleges, but none with four-year schools.

“They just played as a team. I’ve been around a while, and it’s definitely the most tight-knit group I’ve been around,” Douglas said. “We had a lot of unselfish players that played great baseball. They fed off each other, and it’s fun to coach those kinds of guys.”

As great as the past few years have been, the best might be yet to come for Warren Central.

Eight seniors will graduate, including Player of the Year Conner Wilkinson and junior college signees Brooks Boolos, Taft Nesmith and Booth Buys.

Coming along to replace them, however, is a talented and much-hyped class of underclassmen.

Sophomore pitcher Aaron Greene was 4-1 with a 1.71 ERA this season before hurting his elbow midway through the year, and freshman Farmer Abendroth became a trusted arm out of the bullpen late in the season.

Both Greene and Abendroth have fastballs that top out at 90 mph, and will provide a strong one-two punch in the rotation for the next two years.

Other players such as outfielder D.J. Lewis, catcher Tyler McRight, and infielders Matthew Newcomb and Logan Stewart, were all regular starters and will be back in 2017.

Lewis hit .386 and McRight .348 this season. McRight is already a two-year starter behind the plate.

“We lose a lot. We lose eight seniors, and all eight contributed. We have a lot of experience coming back, though,” Douglas said. “The guys that are feeding into the high school, there’s a lot of potential there. We have to continue to do it with them as coaches. These guys have built a good foundation for them. The future is bright.”

Vicksburg Post Coaches of the Year

2016 – Conner Douglas, Warren Central

2015 – Conner Douglas, Warren Central

2014 – Conner Douglas, Warren Central

2013 – Derrik Boland, St. Aloysius

2012 – Ryan Grey, Vicksburg

2011 – Jerry Bourne, Porters Chapel

2010 – Clint Wilkerson, St. Aloysius

2009 – Clint Wilkerson, St. Aloysius

2008 – Jamie Creel, Vicksburg

2007 – Clint Wilkerson, St. Aloysius

2006 – Randy Wright, Porters Chapel

2005 – Clint Wilkerson, St. Aloysius

2004 – Randy Broome, Warren Central

2003 – Randy Wright, Porters Chapel

2002 – Joe Graves, St. Aloysius

2001 – Sam Temple, Warren Central

2000 – Jamie Creel, Vicksburg

1999 – Randy Wright, Porters Chapel

1998 – Sam Temple, Warren Central

1997 – Ray Burroughs, Vicksburg

1996 – Joe Graves, St. Aloysius

1995 – Joe Graves, St. Aloysius

1994 – Joe Graves, St. Aloysius