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FAIRFIELD — A month and a half ago, few baseball observers had high expectations for the Mt. Blue Cougars.

At the beginning of the season, Messalonskee, Bangor, Skowhegan and Mt. Ararat were the favorites in Class A North. Mt. Blue, meanwhile, was coming off a 3-12-1 campaign in 2024.

As the playoffs approach, though, Mt. Blue is right there with those teams — and, in some cases, well ahead of them. The Cougars are 11-5, having long clinched their first winning season since 2011, and will likely be the No. 2 seed in Class A North after closing out regular-season play with a 10-2 win at Lawrence on Wednesday.

“It’s really exciting, and it means a lot to this community,” said first-year Mt. Blue coach Steve Porter. “Our seniors, especially, have worked really hard, and they deserve this after giving their best efforts for four seasons with the results maybe not being there. … We have a group of kids who want this.”

At 4-4 midway through the season, Mt. Blue had the look of a vastly improved team. That stretch included a season-opening win over Mt. Ararat, which will be Class A North’s top seed at 13-3, as well as wins over Mt. Abram and defending regional champ Messalonskee.

Since then, the Cougars have only gotten better. Prior to a 5-2 loss in a rematch against Messalonskee on Friday, Mt. Blue had won six straight games to shoot up the regional standings. Should the Cougars indeed get the No. 2 seed, it would mark the team’s best regular-season finish since 2002.

“We really didn’t lose anyone from last year — we had a couple seniors — and everybody’s been improved, especially from the beginning of the season to the end of the season,” said senior Nolan Leso. “The hitting has been astronomically better.”

Leso (.481 average, 26 hits, 11 RBI) is one of Class A North’s top players and has led Mt. Blue from the No. 2 spot in the lineup. Leadoff batter Gage DeCarolis (.393, 22 hits) has also been a vital piece of the lineup, as has cleanup hitter Dane Cousineau (.306).

That was on display in Wednesday’s win. DeCarolis and Leso smacked three hits each, two of which came in a six-run second inning. The visitors also got two hits from Oliver Cormier and Jax Vienneau as part of a 12-hit day.

“The thing about this team is, you get one hit, then two hits, and then the whole lineup hits,” said Leso, who had a double, two singles and two RBI. “It’s awesome (to lead the top of the order with Gabe). … Usually, he hits a double, and then I’ll hit him right in. It’s a good way to get starts to the game.”

Pitching, though, is what really has catapulted Mt. Blue to contender status. Aiden Wilkins (5-0, 0.27 ERA, 46 strikeouts) has been one of Class A North’s top pitchers, and Leso (4-1, 2.39 ERA, 40 strikeouts) isn’t far behind. The Cougars, who have a staff ERA of 2.12, have allowed just 34 earned runs.

That, too, manifested in Wednesday’s win. After Lawrence (8-8) scored two unearned runs against Wilkins to take a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the senior ace was nearly flawless the rest of the way, striking out eight and allowing just one hit.

“It’s hard (to beat us when we play like we did today),” Porter said. “I’ll put our chances up there with anybody with the pitching we have and the way we hit the baseball. Our kids have a lot of mental toughness, which is something you saw today.”

It’s a major turnaround for a program that, historically, has not exactly been a top dog in Class A. Mt. Blue has never won a state or even a regional title. The Cougars’ streak of non-winning seasons included marks of 1-15 in 2018 and 0-16 in 2019.

A likely matchup with Messalonskee (9-7) looms for Mt. Blue in the Class A North quarterfinals. A win would mark the first playoff victory for the Cougars since defeating Edward Little in 2015, back when the current Mt. Blue seniors were in second grade.

“All offseason, our whole team was just grinding to get better,” Wilkins said. “We wanted this year to be the year, and it looks like we’re going to do our best to get there.”