After knocking on the door for the past two years, the Warrenton baseball team can finally call itself conference champions.The Warriors finished their GAC schedule 7-3, meaning a three-way tie for first with St. Charles and St. Charles West.It was the first time in 15 seasons — and since joining the GAC in 2002 — they have achieved such a feat.“Finishing atop the conference was really cool for our team,” said senior pitcher Ben Stephens. “That’s been the goal the past couple years, so it felt nice to finally accomplish it.”For a program that went winless six seasons ago, it was sort of a sign of validation and having returned to relevance.“Having been consistently close the past couple years gave our guys the confidence to know we could achieve it,” said Coach Eric Burle.With one goal behind them, the Warriors are eager to pursue others.“That was a big step forward from past years,” said senior Taylor Duvel. “Now we’re focused on trying to get as far as we can in districts.”Warrenton will open the Class 4 District 7 Tournament on Saturday at 11 a.m. against a familiar opponent at an even more familiar venue.The Warriors will meet Wentzville-Liberty, which they already split with twice this season, at St. Charles West High School.Warrenton drew the fourth seed. Burle says he believes the second through fourth seeds could have been interchangeable.“I felt pretty good about our strength of schedule and especially non conference opponents,” said Burle. “It would have been nice to get that first-round bye, but we’ll have to work our way to the second round, and we should be fine.”In their previous meetings with Liberty the Warriors won 6-1, before losing 4-3.“We have no reason to take Liberty lightly,” said Burle. “They’re one of the reasons we didn’t get sole conference champions. I know the guys are wanting to get that game back. We have an opportunity to do that in first round.”Warrenton will focus on its strengths heading forward.“Any time you have Ben on the mound, pitching and defense should be at a premium for us,” said Burle. “And our offense is starting to come around.”With pitcher Brandon Purkaple on the mend and currently not able to throw, depth is a slight area of concern. But Burle says the team has responded well.“We’re trying to find our way with some other pitchers,” said Burle. “We have role players filling into starting spots that have been playing well.”WARRIORS EYE DISTRICT TITLEDerrick Forsythe photo.