Intercollegiate Baseball as we know it today began in the early 1990's. The Marauder Baseball team began as a McMaster club team and was coached by the club's late founder Jason Guindon. Jason, living a dream touring the baseball parks of North America, was killed in a car accident in the summer of 1998. The team initially played a schedule consisting of exhibition games with other College and University teams.
The Marauders played their first league game in the fall of 1994 against the Durham College Lords, as part of the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association's (C.I.B.A) inaugural season. A successful regular and post season led to a berth in the first-ever Canadian National Baseball Championship Game. Although eventually losing to McGill University in the Championship game, McMaster began to establish itself as one of the elite teams in Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball. Catcher Bill Newton, second basemen Steve McGrail, and outfielder Joe Davis were all named Canadian All-stars at the Inaugural Canadian Championship. Bill Newton also claimed the batting crown, while McGrail was voted defensive player of the year. The 1995 season saw eleven new teams join the C.I.B.A. That season the roster consisted of thirteen players who had never played in a C.I.B.A game before. Despite their youth, McMaster placed third in the division behind the '95 national semifinalist Brock Badgers and University of Toronto Blues in a rain-shortened regular season. McMaster finished third in the C.I.B.A. Ontario West Division narrowly missing qualification for the national championship tournament. The C.I.B.A continued to grow in 1996 adding two new teams to its Ontario West division; Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. McMaster was also fortunate enough to be invited to play in the Inaugural C.I.B.A First Pitch Classic, versus the University of Toronto, at SkyDome.
The 1996 regular season started strong for McMaster. MAC dominated opponents winning 9 of their first 10 games. MAC eventually finished a close second to Brock in the regular season standings and went on to easily defeat Wilfrid Laurier in the best of 3 series in the first round of playoffs. MAC's season ended when they were narrowly defeated in the Ontario West divisional final by Brock. The 1997 season would be the most successful in the team's history. On the strength of a 14-2 first place finish in the CIBA Ontario West Division, the Marauders captured their first-ever West Division Championship. Defeating the University of Western Ontario in the Division Semifinals and sweeping rival Brock University in the Championship series. MAC would finish a perfect 3-0 in the round robin portion of the National Championship tournament highlighted by a no hitter by Doug Lunney. In storybook fashion MAC would come back from a 5-0 deficit to defeat Laval University to capture the National title. Doug Lunney was named C.I.B.A pitcher of the year, Craig Cooper won the league batting title, and Scott Hughes was named the national tournament MVP. Five marauders were also named to the national tournament all-star team. Scott Ralph at shortstop, Brad Reeson at second base, Scott Hughes at first base, Doug Lunney as a right handed pitcher, and Craig Cooper in centerfield.
The 1998 season would see the Marauders finish in first place in the West Division for a second straight season with a 14-2 record. After a defeat of Wilfrid Laurier in the West Semifinals MAC took on Brock in the Division final for the fourth straight year. The hard-fought series lead to a third and decisive game, which was eventually won by Brock. The Marauders would rebound in 1999. After finishing second behind Brock in the regular season the Marauders defeated Western in the Semifinals to setup a rematch with the Badgers. For the second straight season the series would go to three games. Revenge would be sweet, as the Marauders would score in the final inning of the third game to secure their second trip to the Nationals in three years. Weather conditions dictated that MAC would have to play all three of their pool games in one day. A one-run loss to Laval, and a tough loss to Brock would eliminate the team from Championship contention. In the 2000 season, the Marauders captured the regular season title for the second time in three seasons. After defeating Wilfrid Laurier in the semifinals MAC would meet Brock in the Division Championship series for the fifth straight season. Last year's series would continue to establish the heated rivalry between McMaster and Brock. Brock would win the series in two tough games. In 2001 baseball officially became an OUA sport. During the 2005 season the Marauders recorded a 6-12 season. In 2006, the Marauders regular season record dropped to a low of 4-14. Fourth year honours commerce student Tom Sidorkewicz and mechanical engineering management student Ian Miersch both represented McMaster on the OUA All-Star list. This season also marked the first year that the OUA All-Star Game was played at the Skydome in Toronto. McMaster improved their record to an even 9-9 in 2007. The team faced rival Brock once more in the OUA semi-final match at Community Park and fell in two games 2-12 and 3-7. Devlin Connelly, Michael May and Chris Redmond played for McMaster in the league's second All-Star Game. McMaster claimed their very first OUA Championship title in 2008 after sweeping both Western and Brock in four games during the Championship series. Alex McGregor, Chris Piccini, Devlin Connelly, Ryan Hurley, Greg Swan and Sean Lemon were all named to the OUA All-Star roster. Chris Piccini was named the OUA's Most Valuable Hitter and Wayne Gowan was given top coaching honours as OUA Baseball's Coach of the Year.
