It was standing room only at Anderson Memorial Stadium on May 17, 2007, as the Anderson Joes and Aiken Foxhounds made their debuts in the South Coast League of Professional Baseball.

The Joes took a 5-4 victory, and fans celebrated with a fireworks display at the end of a cool, crisp night.

This May, there will be no fireworks — on the field or off.

The lights will dim at Memorial Stadium when the Anderson University Trojans complete their season in April, because the lights have gone out on the SCL.

The league will suspend operations effective April 1, although there is a chance at least one employee will remain at the league office as well as the offices of the four existing franchises — the Anderson Joes, Aiken Foxhounds, Macon Music and South Georgia Peanuts. No independent baseball league has ever survived two seasons in the Southeast, however, and mounting debts prevented the SCL from even getting to year two.

“The reason the decision was made was because the league wanted to make sure it could get through an entire season, and not cease operations after the season had started,” said J.D. Hardin, chief development officer of the SCL and acting chief executive officer. “But honestly, we still think this thing can work. We don’t want to make people jaded, and we know we have work to do to get their trust back. But I still believe in the concept of this league.”

When the circuit debuted, it seemed SCL officials were doing everything right.

The organization got national publicity by hiring Wally Backman as manager of the South Georgia Peanuts, while Cecil Fielder was brought in to serve as roving hitting instructor for the league.

Attendance was strong league-wide, and it appeared this would be one independent league that had a good shot at survival.

Then the wheels came off.

Before most people knew of the SCL’s financial trouble, it started getting negative publicity due to the antics of Backman (who famously threw a tantrum during Day Care Day at Memorial Stadium) and missteps off the field.

The league playoffs were set up in a way that they conflicted directly with high school and college football, and the all-star game was scheduled to be played at the end of the season.

Then the all-star game was suddenly canceled.

The SCL limped to the finish line of its inaugural season, but the worst was yet to come.

Vendors began complaining about never being paid for services rendered, and during the offseason many league employees — who were told the SCL was committed to a minimum three years of operation — were fired.

Adding insult to injury was the fact that many of the fired employees never got their final paycheck. When checks did come, they often bounced.

By January the complaints grew louder from companies and individuals, and it was discovered that the SCL was more than $750,000 in the red. The debt was paid down to roughly $500,000, but while officials planned for a second season, more trouble was on the horizon.

Jackson, Miss., was granted a franchise in January, but in February the team’s debut was postponed until 2009. In addition one of the league’s six flagship franchises, the Charlotte County Redfish, were also benched for the 2008 season, giving the league four teams.

With rare exceptions, the remaining franchises were stocked with brand new employees from top to bottom.

But the jobs would be short-lived.

Early in March, rumors began to swirl that the SCL would fold, and last Tuesday Jamie Toole — who was also one of the league founders — resigned.

“That was a total surprise,” Hardin said. “I honestly didn’t know that was coming, but Jamie sent out a release and people were asking me to comment. I was in the dark.”

Now Hardin sits and waits — not knowing whether he will still have a job in the coming weeks.

“I’m not looking,” he said. “In the next couple of weeks the owners will evaluate what they want to do and hopefully I’ll be around to help out. I’ve already talked to city officials where our franchises are and told them what was going on. I don’t want them left with a bad taste in their mouths.”

Hardin believes the SCL can eventually succeed.

“There are a couple of options,” he said. “A new ownership group could come in and we could continue with a single entity concept, or private investors could actually buy into teams. The key is to pay off what we owe, regroup and let people know we honestly want this thing to succeed.

“I never would’ve joined the league if I didn’t think it was a good idea.”