10 years ago, the Austin College baseball team made a big splash in their first season as members of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. After moving from the American Southwest Conference to the SCAC prior to the 2006-07 academic year, the 'Roo baseball team became the first Austin College program to bring home a conference tournament championship.
The 'Roos entered the 2007 SCAC Championship, held that year in Georgetown, Texas, as an underdog. Austin College secured the No. 3-seed in the SCAC West Division, coming into the bracket with a 19-23 overall record. The path to the championship was far from easy, as well.
In the opening game of the tournament for Austin College, the 'Roos faced Millsaps College, a squad ranked No. 15 in the nation. Behind a 4-for-5 performance from Matt Finke - a Denison native who also went on to earn All-Conference honors as a cornerback for the Austin College football team - the 'Roos toppled the Majors 14-5.
Things would hardly get easier in the next round, as Austin College moved on to face the No. 25-ranked Rhodes College Lynx. John Reisig - another two-sport athlete for the 'Roos as a kicker for the 'Roo football team, who would also go on to win a College Gold Glove as an outfielder - went 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs to lead Austin College to a 10-8 victory. That set up a showdown with Millsaps on April 29, 2007 for the conference championship.
Austin College jumped out to a 5-0 lead heading into the sixth, when Millsaps would plate four runs. Austin College added another in the bottom half of the inning to make it a 6-4 game, but the Majors plated three runs in the seventh to take a 7-6 lead. Scott Cottingham drove home the tying run in the bottom half of the inning, and Reisig plated the go-ahead in the eighth. Andy White, who had reached on a walk, would score on a wild pitch to make it a 9-7 lead for the 'Roos and head coach Carl Iwasaki.
Will Chermak, a freshman who won seven games that season and who had started the opening round victory over the Majors, was called upon in the top of the eighth to try to close things out. Chermak, who would go on to become one of the top strikeout artists in the SCAC in his four year career, tossed two perfect innings to earn his second win in three days and deliver the first ever SCAC Championship for an Austin College athletics program.
The 'Roos would go on to drop each of their two games at the NCAA Division III national tournament and finish with a record of 22-25, including a 9-6 mark in the SCAC.