Editor's note: The University of Northern Iowa baseball program is in its final week of existence after a February decision by university officials to eliminate the program at season's end. Courier sports writer Matt Coss revisits the last 50 years of Panther baseball during a five-part series this week.

Fourth in a series

CEDAR FALLS - When Dave Schrage took over as the University of Northern Iowa baseball coach in 1991, the program offered one scholarship and was a collective 44-119 the previous three seasons.

"I always thought I probably got the job because nobody else wanted it," Schrage said.

If Schrage's challenge wasn't taxing enough, months after he inherited the position, former athletic director Bob Bowlsby announced the school would join the Missouri Valley Conference.

With the limited resources available, the idea of playing in the same league as national powers Wichita State, Missouri State and Creighton was overwhelming.

"I just thought, 'Oh, boy, this is a huge mountain to climb,'" Schrage said.

During that period, UNI baseball moved off-campus. Thanks to a relationship formed with the San Diego Padres' minor league team in Waterloo, the Panthers started playing some of their games at Riverfront Stadium. By the mid 90s, it was UNI's permanent home.

"You knew there were so many great players that had played there," former UNI second baseman and current North Iowa Area Community College head coach Todd Rima said. "It made it a special place to play.

"It felt like it was a big-time place."

Days after the announcement to join the MVC, Bowlsby called Schrage into his office and said, "We're going to increase your scholarships. We're going to get you up to three next year."

Still well below the number given by other Valley members, Schrage started to rebuild the program.

The early years were a nightmare. UNI was 2-17 in the Valley in 1992, 1-20 in '93 and 5-16 in '94. Missouri State outscored UNI 42-8 during a three-game series in '94.

"I remember calling my dad and telling him, 'I feel like it's boys playing against men,'" former Panther shortstop Kevin Sawatzky said. "They just absolutely handed it to us."

"We weren't ready to compete at all," said Schrage, now the head coach at Notre Dame. "The hard part was talking kids into coming to a program that won one or two conference games."

Instead, Schrage decided to build his team around small-town Iowa kids. With the likes of Waverly's Greg Woodin, Oelwein's Rima, New Hampton's Scott Hoey and Denver's Scott Brickman, along with out-of-state recruit Brian Jergenson and Sawatzky from Canada, the Panthers started to turn a corner.

"It was basically a bunch of dirtbags out there," said Brickman, now a pitching coach for the Panthers. "We had a lot of Iowa kids that took a lot of pride in the program."

in 1995, UNI captured a winning season and won 12 league games. It followed with 13 MVC victories the following season.

Finally, in 1997, the Panthers strung together a season that's their best ever in Valley regular-season play.

With the addition of juco transfer David Parra, football quarterback Steve Beard, pitcher Scott Sobkowiak and Iowa transfer Gabe Wyckoff, the Panthers compiled 32 wins and an 18-8 mark in the Valley - good for second place.

"It was one of the most unified groups I'd ever been around," Rima said. "We had some great players, but it was a bunch of guys that banded together and went out and competed. Without question, it was a group that overachieved and believed in what they were doing."

The Panthers had an opportunity to win the league, but dropped their final two conference games to Indiana State. It also didn't get a chance to play Wichita State that season as a scheduled four-game series at Riverfront was snowed out.

UNI won 13 one-run games that season.

"That was the stat that showed the fortitude and desire to win that we had," Sawatzky said. "There was great confidence."

Brickman said there was a "tough-man mentality" on that squad.

"I knew if we got in a situation where there would be a confrontation of some sort, I had guys like 'Jergy' and Sawatzky to back me up," Brickman said. "It was a team basically that tried to have a fight on the baseball field. We weren't going to back down from anybody."

It carried over into the dugout with the "rally can." UNI would take wooden bats to a metal trash can and start stirring it.

"It was loud, obnoxious and umpires would come over and tell us to knock it off," Brickman said. "It was almost like softball at times in the dugout."

The only downfall to the season was the ending. UNI dropped its first two games in the conference tournament to Southern Illinois and Wichita State, which was upset by Evansville in the opening game.

"It was good morning, good afternoon and good night," Brickman said. "We were in and out of that place before I knew it. Going in, we felt like we were going to run that thing and be in a regional. We picked a bad time to play bad baseball."

Still, it was a season of memories that laid the groundwork for the next decade and Rick Heller's era.

"It did end on a sad note, but what we were up against and what other teams had, the regular season still means a little more than what happened in the tournament," Rima said. "We talk as friends about going back and doing it all over again.

"It was a great experience and we take a great deal of pride in it."