SIUE Baseball Staff Has Been Finalized

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE baseball Head Coach Sean Lyons has finalized his staff for the 2023 season. Joe Kelch has rejoined the program and will work with Cougar hitters as well as the infield defense. Adam Vasil, who spent the 2022 season as the volunteer coach , has been hired as the Cougars' pitching and catching coach. Bailey Vuylsteke will serve as the volunteer coach working with the pitching staff, specializing in data and biomechanics. He also will assist with baseball operations within the program.

I am excited by the three additions to our full-time staff," Lyons said. "Their ability to build relationships with student-athletes on the diamond and on the recruiting trail will be a major asset to our program."

A former volunteer assistant, Joe Kelch returned to SIUE after spending three seasons on the staff at Illinois-Springfield. He spent last season as the Associate Head Coach and was the program's recruiting coordinator and hitting coach.

"We are really excited to have Joe and his family back at SIUE," Lyons said of Kelch. "I knew success would follow him when he served as our volunteer coach back in 2017. 

He is one of the best young coaches in the country and has done a phenomenal job these past three years at UIS. He is a tremendous baseball guy, a great person, and also a really good role model for our student-athletes." 

In 2022, Kelch assisted the top UIS team in program history. The Prairie Stars won their first GLVC Championship Tournament and captured NCAA Regional and NCAA Super Regional titles. UIS advanced to the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament for the first time.

UIS ranked sixth in NCAA Division II at 10.0 runs per game, and was also top-10 offensively in walks, doubles, hits, home runs, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Kelch coached two All-Americans, including Zion Pettigrew, the GLVC and Midwest Regional Player of the Year. Four other players earned All-GLVC and All-Region honors.
The 2021 Prairie Stars won the GLVC Regular Season Championship, reached the finals of the GLVC Tournament, and was the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament. UIS finished the year with a 37-8 overall record, and a 30-5 GLVC mark. Kelch oversaw an offense which ranked fourth in NCAA Division II at 10.1 runs a game. UIS was second nationally in batting average, fourth in slugging percentage, and seventh in on-base percentage.

Among the offensive stars that Kelch coached was Pettigrew, who was named the GLVC and Midwest Region Player of the Year. Kal Youngquist was also a first-team All-American and first-team all-GLVC selection. Austin Alderman and Chris Mathieu both were all-region picks, and Chris Monroe earned first-team all-GLVC honors.
In Kelch's first season in 2020, UIS went 10-4 in the pandemic-shortened season. The Prairie Stars had one of the top offenses in NCAA Division II that year. UIS led the nation with 1.86 home runs per game, and set a NCAA Division II single-season record with nine grand slams. The team was also in the top-15 nationally at 10.6 runs a game.

Kelch arrived at UIS after spending two seasons coaching at Bradley University, where he focused on infield defense and assisted with the hitters. While at Bradley, he helped the team's hitters win six all-conference honors, including four first-team accolades. In his first season at Bradley in 2018, the Braves improved by 12 wins and finished the year with a 32-19 record. With Kelch on staff, Bradley hitters hit .294 for the year, an improvement over a .268 mark from the previous season. Bradley also improved its on-base percentage and slugging percentage. In 2019, Bradley had another 30-win season after it finished the year with a 31-19 record.

Kelch's first stint at SIUE came in 2017 as the volunteer assistant where he worked with infield defense and the hitters. The Cougars went 23-29 that year, an improvement of 14 wins in just one season. In 2017, SIUE hitters hit .293 and averaged 6.6 runs a game, an improvement of 2.5 runs a contest. Two hitters earned all-conference honors, including one first-team award, and another was named to the all-freshman team.

As a player, Kelch appeared in 163 games, making 136 starts for Illinois State from 2012-2016. He hit .289 with a .382 slugging percentage and .366 on-base percentage. He scored 72 runs and drove in 63. He had 18 doubles, two triples, and nine home runs. He was named a second-team all-Missouri Valley Conference performer as a junior. That year, he hit .338 with an on-base percentage better than .400. He collected 18 runs, 24 RBIs, eight doubles, and four home runs.

Kelch, and his wife Emily, have a son, Jackson.

Adam Vasil joined SIUE as the volunteer assistant in September 2021 and was elevated to a full-time assistant following the 2022 season. The Cougars improved by five wins with Vasil on staff and returned to the OVC Tournament for the first time since 2015. SIUE won a pair of games in the tournament, its first ever wins in the Championship.

"We're very excited to promote Adam Vasil and announce him as our pitching coach," Lyons said. "Adam has a passion for player development and our players see that on a daily basis. Adam has built great relationships with our student-athletes over the past year and I'm excited to see his continued impact on our program." 

Vasil came to SIUE after spending the 2021 season at Miami (Ohio) as the director of pitching development and bullpen coach. The Redhawks ranked fifth in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings (11.2), 16th in strikeout to walk ratio (3.07), 16th in earned run average (3.61), 22nd in hits per nine innings (7.78) and 25th in WHIP (1.27).

At Miami, Vasil coached three pitchers who went on to play affiliated baseball, including Sam Bachman, who was the ninth overall draft pick of the Angels in 2021.

Before his time at Miami, Vasil was the head assistant Coach at Coker University, a Division II school in South Carolina, where he also served as the lead recruiter and pitching coach. Under Vasil, the Cobras improved their total strikeouts, strikeouts per nine innings, walks and hits allowed.

The native of Cleveland, Ohio, spent the 2019 college season as a graduate assistant pitching coach at the University of Indianapolis where he also assisted game day scouting. There he helped the Greyhounds improve upon their overall earned run average, runs allowed, batting average against and WHIP.

Vasil also worked as a training specialist at the Florida Baseball Ranch (now Florida Baseball Armory) in Plant City, Florida.

Vasil began his college career at Ashland University where he was part of back-to-back conference championships and was a Rawlings Gold Glove nominee. He finished with one season as a graduate at Indianapolis.

He earned his bachelor's from Ashland in 2017 and an MBA from Indianapolis in 2019.

Bailey Vuylsteke joins the SIUE baseball staff as a volunteer assistant in August 2022. Vuylsteke will assist primarily with the pitching staff, specializing in data and biomechanics. He also will assist with baseball operations within the program.

"The addition of Bailey Vuylsteke brings more young blood to the staff," Lyons added. "He brings experience from one of the best junior college programs in the country and an eagerness to learn and help develop pitchers."

Vuylsteke spent the 2021 season at Iowa Western Community College, helping the Reivers to 49 wins. Iowa Western sent 24 players to play at the Division I level. The pitching staff set a school record for strikeouts with 620, which ranked fifth in the country, while leading the nation in strikeouts per nine innings.

Prior to Iowa Western, Vuylsteke managed the Quincy Gems in the Prospect League, a collegiate summer league. The team finished with a winning record in Vuylsteke's first experience as head coach. Vuylsteke will manage the O'Fallon Hoots, another Prospect League team beginning in 2023.

The native of St. Louis, spent time as a student assistant at Miami University, assisting with pitchers and practice management.

As a player, Vuylsteke played two seasons at Jefferson College, earning a 3.43 earned run average in 44 innings as a sophomore for a team that reached the NJCAA World Series. He finished his playing career with two seasons at Miami.

Vuylsteke earned his bachelor's in sports management and leadership from Miami in 2020.