Northern Athletics Conference 2013 Baseball Preview

Aurora University baseball is picked to finish 1st in the 2013 preseason coaches poll in the Northern Athletic Conference.  The Spartans won last years NAC conference title and the last three Northern Athletic Conference tournaments.

Returning for Aurora is D3Baseball.com's preseason All-American pitcher Drew Gay who went 8-0 with a 1.68 ERA last season.  Aurora also returns pitchers Eric Palmer 8-0, 2.54 ERA, Brad Warnecke 8-0, 1.19 ERA, DH Cory Walden .352  , 57 RBI's, and catcher Ryan McMahon, .322, 17 RBI's.

Concordia, IL returns All-American third baseman Anthony Even who hit .400 with 38 RBI's and 22 doubles last season.

Benedictine has NAC Freshman All-Star Tim Hendricks coming back.  Tim hit .269 with 23 RBI's and scored 20 runs last season for the Eagles.

Rockford's top returning pitcher is Kaleb Rich, who went 3-4 with a 4.82 ERA last year.

Dominican University only returns 10 letter winners from their 2012 squad right fielder Adam Quinn leads the way hitting .267 with 22 rbi's last season.

NCAA Division III Baseball All-Americans from Illinois

D3Baseball.com announced the 2012 NCAA Division III All-American baseball team yesterday and below are the players from Illinois.

First Team All-American
3B Kevin Callahan, Illinois Wesleyan.  The junior infielder hit .355 with 17 doubles, 11 home runs and drove in 54.  Kevin is from Brother Rice HS and lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Second Team All-American
3B Anthony Even from Concordia.  Even hit .432 with 22 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers and 38 rbi's.  Anthony is from West Leyden HS and lives in Franklin Park, Illinois.

Pitcher Drew Gay from Aurora University.  Drew went 8-0 with a 1.63 ERA in 77 1/3rd innings, struck out 67 and walked 16 for the Spartans.  Drew is from Marquette HS and lives in Marseilles, Illinois.

Third Team All-American
3B Tim Mackey, Aurora, Tim hit .391 with 5 homers, 19 doubles, 2 triples and drove in 32.  Tim is from East Leyden HS and lives in Rosemont, Illinois

Utility player Drew Golz from Wheaton College, Drew hit .404 with 4 homers, 12 doubles and on the mound Golz went 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA.  Drew attended Oak Park-River Forest HS and lives in River Forest, Illinois.

Honorable Mention
Pitcher Nick Soldano from North Park, Nick went 9-2 with a 3.12 ERA in 101 innings.  Nick is from Zion-Benton HS and lives in Lake Zurich, Illinois.

Dercks and Palmer Earn Northern Athletics Conference Baseball Players of the Week

Jimmy Dercks and Eric Palmer were named the Northern Athletics Conference baseball players of the week for the week ending April 15th.

Aurora University freshman Eric Palmer captured the Pitcher of the Week honors went 2-0 last week with a 0.60 ERA in 15 innings last week.  Palmer struck out 12 and allowed only one earned run last week and improved his record to 4-0 this season.  Eric attended East Leyden and lives in Melrose Park Illinois.

Senior shortstop Jimmy Dercks from Rockford College earned the Hitter of the Week by batting .586 with 17 hits last week.  Dercks had eight doubles, a homer and 13 rbi's on the week.  Jimmy also earned the D3Baseball.com Team of the Week earning a spot as the shortstop.  Dercks is from Kaukauna Wisconsin.

Aurora University Baseball Picked to Win the NAC for 2012

Aurora University baseball is picked to win the 2012 Northern Athletics Conference by D3Baseball.com.

Returning for Aurora are two D3Baseball.com Third Team All-Americans, senior outfielder Josh Davidson and DH Mike Foley.  Also returning for the Spartans is NAC Co-Pitcher of the Year Drew Gay.

Concordia Illinois looks to be as good as Aurora in 2012 with the NAC Position Player of the Year catcher Nick Skala.  Skala was drafted in the 37th round by the Orioles but returned to school.  Also returning are All-American outfielder Cam Stevens and outfielder Dan Eichholzer.

Illinois Benedictine returns seven position players and five pitchers for 2012.  Head baseball coach John Ostrowski is looking for his 900th win this season.  Coach Ostrowski begins his 39th season at Benedictine.

Rockford returns two All-Conference players with infielder Jimmy Dercks and outfielder/infielder Ryne Billesbach.

Illinois Wesleyan Last Illinois Team Left in Division III Baseball Tournament

The Illinois Wesleyan Titans are fighting to stay alive in the Central Regional of the NCAA Division III Baseball National Tournament. 

Illinois Wesleyan, last years National Champion, moved into the losers bracket after a 7-1 loss to Buena Vista yesterday.  The Titans will now play Ripon at 10:00 am today looking to stay alive in the tourney.

The only other Illinois Division III team, Aurora University, fell out of the National Tourney with an 8-3 loss to St. Thomas yesterday.

Aurora University Baseball Wins Northern Athletics Conference Tournament

The Aurora University Baseball Spartans needed to win one game against Concordia University Chicago in the NAC tournament on Sunday afternoon and did so defeating Concordia 11-3 and capturing the conference tourney for the second year in a row.  Aurora now advances to the Midwest Regional in Whitewater Wisconsin as the #6 seed in the Division III National Tournament.

Anthony Buonamici (Bolingbrook Illinois) went 5 and 2/3rds innings, to pick up the win and Nick Czaja (Aurora Illinois) picked up the save throwing the final 3 and 1/3 innings.  Mike Foley (Mokena Illinois) went 3-4 with a triple and three rbi's for the Spartans.

Drew Gay From Aurora University Baseball Named NAC Pitcher of the Week

Junior right handed pitcher Drew Gay from Aurora University earned the Northern Athletics Conference baseball pitcher of the week honors for the week ending April 3rd 2011.

Gay, Marsailles Illinois, Ottawa-Marquette, pitched a complete game against Lakeland with 10 strikeouts and allowed only 5 hits over nine innings on Sunday.  Drew currently leads the Spartans with 3 wins and 33.2 innings. 

Aurora University Baseball Picked as 2011 Favorite in the NAC

The Aurora University Baseball team received 7 of 11 first place votes as the 2011 preseason favorite in the Northern Athletics Conference.

Aurora returns three all-conference honorable mention players from last season, finished second in conference (16-6 in the NAC, 27-16 overall), won the conference tournament and advanced to the D3 Championship Tournament last season.

Rockford, last season's NAC co-champion, was picked to finish second in the 2011 preseason poll.

2011 NAC Coaches Preseason Poll:

1. Aurora University
2. Rockford College
3. Edgewood
4. Concordia Chicago & Concordia Wisconsin
6. Benedictine
7. Lakeland
8. Marian
9. Dominician
10. MSOE & Wisconsin Lutheran
12. Maranatha

Illinois Wesleyan Baseball Ranked 5th in Division III Pre-Season Poll

The Illinois Wesleyan Titans, last years Division III National Champions, are ranked 5th on the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper pre-season poll.  The Titans finished the 2010 season with a 31-21 record.

Other Illinois teams that received votes but did not land in the rankings are:

North Central College (31-11)
North Park (28-15)
Aurora University (27-16)

 

Aurora University Baseball Captures 2010 NAC Championship

Aurora University will make it's 18th appearance in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships after capturing their first Northern Athletics Conference Championship Saturday by defeating Edgewood College 13-3 in seven innings.

Aurora (27-14) will move on to the Midwest Regional hosted by UW-Whitewater as the #6 seed in the first round of the Division III Baseball Championship

Northern Athletics Conference 2010 Baseball Tournament

The 2010 Northern Athletics Conference Tournament will be held at Road Ranger Stadium, home of the Rockford RiverHawks, May 14th through May 16th 2010.  Below is the current schedule...

May 14th
Game 1  9:00 am - #1 seed Edgewood College vs #4 Aurora University
Game 2  12:30 pm - #2 Rockford College vs #3 Concordia Wisconsin
Game 3  4:00 pm - Winner game 1 vs Winner game 2
Game 4  7:30 pm - Loser game 1 vs Loser game 2

May 15
Game 5  12:00 pm  - Loser game 3 vs Winner game 4
Game 6  3:30 pm - Winner game 3 vs Winner game 5

May 16
Game 7 (if necessary) 10:00 am - Rematch of Game 6

Aurora University Baseball Coach Sean Neitzel Reaches 200 Victories

Aurora University Spartan baseball coach Shaun Neitzel earned his 200th career victory with the Spartans 15-9 win over North Central College on Wednesday, March 31, 2010.

With the victory, Neitzel is the third AU baseball coach to surpass 200 wins and is third all-time in wins behind former Spartan coaches Jim Schmidt (245 wins) and current AU athletic director Mark Walsh (320).


In his eighth season as the Head Coach of the Spartan baseball program, Neitzel holds a 200-112-2 (.640) record. His Spartans won back-to-back titles in the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference in 2005 and 2006. Neitzel is a two time recipient of the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference Baseball Coach-of-the-Year award (2005 and 2006) and a two time recipient of the ABCA Central Region Coach-of-the-Year.

Aurora Baseball Hands Augustana it's First Loss of the Season

Baseball in Illinois News

Aurora University scores two in the fifth and three in the sixth to hand #11 Augustana it's first loss of the 2010 season 6-2.  Dan McCarthy went the distance for Aurora allowing two runs on four hits.  Tony Wellner's three run homer in the sixth put the game away for the Spartans.  Wellner finished 3-5 with four rbi's.  Aurora University is now 6-5 on the season and #11 Augustana is now 12-1. 

Aurora University Baseball's Steve Salazar Named NAC Pitcher of the Week

Baseball in Illinois News

Senior pitcher Steve Salazar (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard West H.S.) was named the NAC Pitcher of the Week, his first time being honored this season.


On the week in which the Spartans went 2-2, Salazar threw a complete game 10-inning shutout at Monmouth College on Friday, March 19, 2010, allowing just two hits in the effort and striking out five.

Rockford Baseball Picked to Win 2010 Northern Athletics Conference

Baseball in Illinois News

Based on the pre-season coaches poll the Rockford Regents Baseball team has been picked to win the Northern Athletics Conference for 2010.  Rockford received 131 overall votes with Aurora University and Concordia University Chicago finishing with 124 total votes.

The 2010 Northern Athletics Conference baseball tournament will be held at Road Ranger Stadium in Rockford Illinois and will include the top four teams in the conference.

2010 Northern Athletics Conference Preview

From Baseball in Illinois News
courtesy of D3baseball

Concordia (Ill.) was the automatic qualifier in the Northern AC, the conference's first Pool A bid after going through the NCAA waiting process. The Cougars (33-15, 18-4 Northern AC in 2009) went 0-2 against Wooster and Heidelberg, both top-10 teams heading into regionals. If there's to be a repeat, Concordia (Ill.) will have to do it without shortstop Jack Walker, who's now in the Nationals organization, and Phil Seris. Those two combined for 30 home runs, 96 runs batted in and 231 total bases in 2009.


The wheels have left Rockford, but the Regents will be just fine. Rockford (27-14, 17-5) loses outfielder Shaun Dascher and first baseman Chris Brockman (who stole a combined 47 bases) and two other starters, but this is a team that outscored its opponents 400-262 last season while scoring 9.8 runs per game. The pitching staff loses just one starter and a top reliever while welcoming three transfers, so the Regents, always a league contender, could be the favorites this year.

Aurora looks to make the next step after losing in the conference tournament final last year. The Spartans (29-13, 16-6) return one of the best pitchers in the region, D3baseball.com preseason All-American Steve Salazar (5-4, 2.12 ERA, three shutouts). If the Spartans, World Series participants in 2004 and 2006, develop someone after Salazar and Dan McCarthy (8-1, 3.81 ERA), they could take that next step. Aurora lost some quality arms behind the ace, but last year the Spartans had an ERA more than a full run better than the next Northern AC team. Senior outfielder Tony Wellner (.411 AVG., 11 HR, .756 SLG %) is back to anchor the lineup, which loses five starters who combined to bat .337 and accounted for 198 of the team's 356 RBI's.

Concordia (Wis.) is led by 2009 Northern AC Player of the Year and D3baseball.com preseason All-American outfielder Jon Olla (led nation with a .602 OBP). However, the Falcons (22-17, 14-8) must pitch better to contend. Last year the team had a 7.84 ERA and allowed opponents to bat .344. Then again Concordia (Wis.) swept UW-Whitewater to end last season, so the talent is there to beat the region's elite.

Division III Pre-Season All Americans from Illinois

D3 Baseball released their pre-season All American picks Monday.  Listed are the pre-season All Americans from Illinois.

Honorable Mention:

SS - Brian Kolb - Wheaton College - hit .418 with 10 doubles, 5 triples, 2 home runs and 34 rbi's in 2009

P - Mike Kovach - Beloit College - Joliet Catholic High School, lives in Plainfield, Illinois.  Mike was 6-1 with a 4.11 era in 35 innings and also hit .451 with 14 doubles and 30 rbi's in 2009.

P - Steve Salazar - Aurora University - Glenbard West High School, lives in Carol Stream, Illinois.  Steve went 5-4 with a 2.12 era with 5 complete games in 2009.

Aurora University Spartan Baseball Pitching Camp

Baseball in Illinois News

Aurora University will hold a youth pitching camp for Aurora area baseball players on Sundays in January 2010.

Camp dates and times are as follows:
Sundays, January 10, 17, 24, 31
1:00 - 2:30 pm - session I (ages 8-12)
3:00 - 4:30 pm - session II (ages 13-18)

Camp Details

This winter camp is for area youth ages 8–18 who would like to be evaluated as a pitcher or catcher and prepare for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.  Strong emphasis will be put on proper pitching and
catching mechanics.

Drill work and fundamentals will be taught by Spartan coaches, staff and players with videotape analysis from lead instructors.

Highlights of the camp will include:
• Flat ground work, bull-pen sessions
• Mechanical breakout session with dry work
and drills
• Proper warm-up and long-toss technique
• Videotape analysis
• Catcher drill work and mechanical
breakout session

For more information please call 630-844-6181 or 630-844-6515 or email Coach Neitzel at sneitzel@aurora.edu