The last time Mt. Pleasant won the state’s top baseball championship in 1996, none of the current players had been born.

But that doesn’t mean it’s been 20 years since the program has had success at the state level — in fact, far from it. School enrollment adjustments statewide dropped the Oilers to Div. 2 and they won the state championship in 2007, again in 2014, and then earned runner-up last year with a large core of the team’s current players.

Mt. Pleasant has moved back up to Div. 1, and entered last week ranked No. 5 in the state with a 22-2 record. Instead of taking on Div. 2 teams again come tournament time at the end of May, the Oilers will face their regular season Saginaw Valley Conference powerhouse opponents in districts, including a predistrict game against Bay City Western, the state champs in 2013 and ’14.

Western, currently unranked, is one of the Oilers’ losses this year, a 5-4 last-inning comeback.

“We’re not taking them for granted,” Mt. Pleasant coach Joe Epple said. “They’re pesky and they’re scrappy and they’ve got two good pitchers, so we’re not taking them lightly by any means. And they play great defense. They don’t hurt themselves.”

The Oilers have a solid core of five players who started on the 2014 state championship team as freshmen or sophomores: Senior pitcher Hunter Buczkowski (4-0), senior third baseman Zach Heeke, junior shortstop Obie Ricumstrict, senior first baseman Max Trucks and senior catcher Dan Keller.

Major contributions also come from junior pitcher Logan Buczkowski (5-1) and junior second baseman Noah Ingram.

“Our entire infield is college-bound, somewhere,” Epple said, adding that in the prior two seasons no player on the infield collected double-digit errors, and the team is on the same pace this season.

Hunter Buczkowski has signed at Central Michigan for football, while Heeke will play baseball for the Chippewas. Ricumstrict is headed to Cincinnati for baseball, and Trucks will do the same at Davenport.

“He really hasn’t broken out yet but he’s got leather like nobody else we’ve ever had,” Epple said of Ricumstrict. “He can really field it and he’s got a good arm. He’s probably the most talented, gifted baseball player we’ve had. It’s no guarantee he’ll be the best, but he’s got the potential to be, for sure.”

Logan Buczkowski hasn’t picked a college program yet, but is being chased by Cincinnati and MAC schools. “When he’s got it going on the mound, there’s not many who can hit him,” Epple said. “He hasn’t given up 10 hits total yet this season.”

Keller is the best backstop for such pitchers that Epple has seen.

“The ball doesn’t get to the screen with him,” Epple said. “He’s the best blocking catcher we’ve ever had. Maybe the best blocker I’ve ever seen in high school baseball in 20-plus years. And we’ve had catchers play in college and the minors.”

Both Heeke and Keller said being a member of the tough Saginaw Valley Conference is making the transition from Div. 2 to Div. 1 more manageable, as they’ll know the competition better and have more detailed scouting reports.

“It’s definitely given us more motivation,” Keller said about the jump. “We want to show everyone we’re ready and up to the challenge of Division 1. We’re ready to show we can win against the best teams in the state, and that we deserve to be in Division 1.”

Heeke added: “The jump to Division 1 is a huge step and the competition changes for sure, but I think our group of eight starters coming back will be a good test for us and I think we’re up for the challenge.”

Both Keller and Hunter Buczkowski were recovering from injuries most of last spring, returning just in time to jump into the postseason lineup and push the team to a second-straight championship game appearance.

Will they make it three?