VIDALIA — A decade has passed since Barry Bowden, Brett Hinson and Mac Ware led the Vidalia Vikings to a 27-0 record before falling in the semifinals to St. Fredericks.

The 2003 Vikings’ deep rotation entered the playoffs wounded, as Bowden suffered from a foot injury, ultimately leading to the end of Vidalia’s undefeated season. No Viking team has been able to go undefeated in the regular season since.

The 2015 (5-0) Vidalia Vikings aspire to be that next team, but this upperclassmen-heavy team is taking a realistic approach. Left-handed pitcher Jacob Wilson said the team isn’t getting carried away with undefeated season talk, especially not this early in the season.

“We haven’t beaten Monterey since I’ve been at the high school, so beating them was a really big step,” Wilson said. “But we’re just taking it game-by-game. The first inning when we played LaSalle, they went up 3-0, but we didn’t get rattled. We’re not letting the little things get to us anymore.”

The Vikings return most of last season’s starters from a team that lost to No. 1 John Curtis in the first round of the playoffs, perhaps more importantly, it returns the core of its pitching rotation.

That same pitching staff hopes to be as affective as Bowden, Hinson and Ware were years ago, even if most of the pitchers on this team are unfamiliar with those popular local names.

“I wasn’t quite old enough (to remember them pitching), but I heard a lot of stories,” senior ace William Handjis said.

Handjis, who led the team with a 1.11 ERA in 61 innings pitched last season, is joined by Cole Cangemi, who recorded a 1.22 ERA in 46 innings pitched in 2014. Rounding out the rotation is Chandler Grayson, who threw a no-hitter already this season, and left-handed pitcher Alan Doyle, who recorded three wins and a 2.75 ERA last season. Wilson pitches mostly in relief, but in the limited action he’s seen this year has allowed one hit and struck out three in two innings pitched.

Grayson said the great thing about Vidalia’s depth on the mound is having the ability to switch things up on opposing hitters.

“You have Handjis who comes in there and throws hard, but then you have guys coming behind him, whether left-handed or not, they mix it up,” Grayson said. “It throws the batter off.”

Members of the Vikings’ pitching staff, who gained tremendous experience last season, view one another as equals, fully confident that whoever is on the mound will get the job done.

“Anybody that you put up there, they’re going to do their job, they’re going to shine,” Cangemi said.

Handjis added that any of those five pitchers, he being included, could go out and provide a seven-inning performance on any given night. This luxury gives the Vikings high hopes of making a long run in the playoffs, hoping to represent Vidalia the same way the 2003 pitching staff did.

“We were a good team a year ago, but we have a lot more potential than just the first round of the playoffs this season,” Handjis said.