Looking back at Matt Cimo's first championship run with Auburn High School baseball

The Auburn High baseball team has been a powerhouse and a perennial championship contender since head coach Matthew Cimo took over 32 years ago.

Despite such competitiveness from the Tigers, they did not win a state championship until Cimo’s 18th season in 2009 when they beat Oxford in a 2-0 series. After winning its first baseball championship since 1986, Auburn repeated in 2010 after defeating Grissom in a three-game series, 2-1, in 2010.

Cimo said that although the trophies started coming in 2009, he credited his team's ability to take advantage of the moment came from his experience in 1998 when the Tigers made it to the final four for the first time under Cimo.

“I think it really started in 1998 when we got to the final four,” Cimo said. “I think it was a turning point for our program because we got to a couple of final fours after that, but we just couldn’t push it past the door.”

Since winning the first two championships in his tenure, Cimo has gone on to lead Auburn to state championship appearances in 2016-18 and 2021 along with two more state titles in 2018 and 2021. The Tigers are also one of two teams to win two titles in Alabama baseball’s top division along with Hoover.

— Christopher Mendoza, The Auburn Advance