For the Love of the Game

from Aurora University Magazine Fall/Winter 2022

Teaching the Teachers

Spartans baseball is setting new records

Head coach Adam Stevens remembers the exact moment when he knew the baseball team he had been recruited to rebuild was starting to come together.

It was the spring of 2017, three years into his job as head coach. The Spartans had a promising 26–16 season and finished second in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. They had advanced to the fourth game of the championship tournament and were playing Milwaukee School of Engineering, a team they were predicted to beat, when they succumbed to a heartbreaking 3–2 loss. It was a hard-fought, close game.

Stevens watched as the players gathered on a field outside of the stadium after the game, shedding tears and hugging each other for the next two hours.

“I remember sitting there watching and thinking to myself, we have a good thing going here,” said Stevens. “We couldn’t get them to leave. It was really cool to see, because that meant they cared about each other and were invested in the success of the team, that they had had a good experience and they didn’t want it to end. That was a sign to me that we were going in the right direction. The next year we broke through and began winning.”

In 2018, the Spartans finished 30–15, won the conference tournament, and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years.

All told, in the past four full seasons (not counting pandemic-shortened 2020), AU baseball has won three NACC tournament crowns and two regular-season conference titles, tied the school record with 38 wins in 2021, and appeared in four straight NCAA Division III tournaments—one of only four DIII schools to do so nationally. The team has ranked in the DIII national top 25 every week for the past two seasons.

**The Spartans have appeared in four straight NCAA Division III tournaments—one of only four DIII schools to do so nationally.**

That’s good progress for a team that was 10–28 the season before Stevens arrived and barely better than .500 during his first two years in the Spartans dugout. “Team chemistry is so important to success,” said Stevens. “You want the players invested and caring for each other. We stress in recruiting to look for students that fit those characteristics. Ultimately, it’s about all the work they put in and the work it takes to be successful, and they do it together all year long.”

Team chemistry is so important to success. You want the players invested and caring for each other.

Stevens came to Aurora in 2014 after coaching 11 years at Central College in Pella, Iowa. He landed the job as head baseball coach at Central at age 24, shortly after graduating from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. As a young coach, he read and studied up on all the great coaches, from baseball to basketball to football. He soon made his mark, leading Central to its first conference championship in 64 years.

**Coach Adam Stevens led the Spartans to three conference tourney titles and four NCAA berths.**

“Adam was a proven winner at a rural institution in which it is often a challenge to recruit athletes,” said Jim Hamad, vice president for athletics. “He also received his first head coaching opportunity at a very young age. By the time he expressed an interest in Aurora, he was a fully developed coach.”

When coaching, Stevens focuses on the basics: fundamentals, work ethic, attitude, and a team-first mentality. He also teaches his players to take responsibility to develop their skills as leaders on and off of the field.

“He holds us to a high standard and we, in turn, hold each other to a high standard as players,” said first baseman Justin Sartori ’23, from Sandwich, Illinois.

**In just eight years at AU, Stevens has already posted the second-best winning percentage in Spartan baseball’s 96-year history.**

The combination of Aurora’s winning tradition and Stevens’ self-leadership philosophy appealed to Sartori, the Spartans’ most decorated player. Last season he earned Division III All-American honors after batting .375, with 12 homers, 59 runs scored, and a school-record 70 RBIs. He also made DIII Academic All-American.

“Everyone has a role on the team, no matter how big or small,” Sartori said. “Coach Stevens cares about everyone on the roster, regardless of their baseball abilities. As a player, I have always felt like he had my best interests in mind at all times.”

In just eight years at AU, Stevens has already posted the second-best winning percentage—.684—in Spartan baseball’s 96-year history. Mark Walsh ’76, who coached from 1993 to 2002 and later became AU’s athletic director, holds the record with .789.

With the Spartans becoming a fixture in the Division III tournament, Stevens’ next goal is to one day win a national championship.

“It’s extremely challenging to maintain excellence,” Stevens said. “Every year is a new year. Handling success is sometimes harder than dealing with failure. Team chemistry wins as many games as talent. The best recruiting you can do is give your players a great experience.”

A History of Spartan Baseball

1926

With Percy Snell as coach, Aurora finishes its first baseball season at 4–1.

1930s

The newly christened Spartans register winning baseball records in 1934 and 1936.

1949

Baseball resumes after a break during World War II, and the Spartans are 2–0 in their return to the field.

1959

Snell Field is opened and dedicated in memory of Coach Percy Snell, the first coach hired by Aurora College. Snell Field hosted baseball games for nearly 50 years.

1974

Spartans baseball, led by coach Fred Bornkamp, wins the school’s first conference championship—and wins again in 1978.

1983–1992

Coach Jim Schmid (245–122–2) ushers in Aurora’s first “golden age” in baseball. The Spartans win nine straight conference crowns and qualify for their first NCAA Division III tournament in 1987.

1993–2002

Mark Walsh ’76 (320–8–52), Aurora’s all-time winningest coach, guides the Spartans to nine conference crowns and nine NCAA berths in 10 seasons.

2003–2012

Coach Shaun Neitzel (287–147–2) nearly matches Walsh’s pace with five conference tournament titles and six NCAA berths.

2015

Adam Stevens starts his first season as Aurora’s 17th head baseball coach. He has led AU to three conference tourney titles and four NCAA berths.

2019

A new home field for Spartan baseball is established at the Fox Valley Park District’s Stuart Sports Complex, 4 miles west of campus, and is named after legendary AU coach Jim Schmid

Spartan Sports – Roundup

The Aurora University Spartan Athletics program had another successful season in the 2021–2022 academic year.

The baseball, football, women’s lacrosse, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s hockey, and women’s volleyball teams all advanced to NCAA Division III regional tournaments.

Robbie Peterson Jr. ’23 competed in the triple jump at both the indoor and outdoor 2022 NCAA track and field championships, and Deyanneira Colon Maldonado ’25 competed in women’s cross country.

Baseball, women’s bowling, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, and women’s volleyball all won conference championships.

The AU Athletic programs also had a strong showing in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, finishing the year ranking 76 out of the more than 450 athletic programs in Learfield’s Division III standings. The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup is a comprehensive ranking of intercollegiate athletic departments based on their participation in NCAA championship events.

Individually, AU student-athletes also had a tremendous year garnering athletic awards, with eight All-Americans, four Academic All-Americans, 24 All-Region players, nine Conference Players of the Year, eight Freshmen of the Year, and seven Conference Coaches of the Year. More than 100 Spartans earned All-Conference recognition.

Among the top accolades: Spartan baseball infielder Justin Sartori ’23 was named 2021–2022 NACC Male Student Athlete of the Year. And baseball head coach Adam Stevens and men’s golf head coach Justin Wyeth were both named Regional Coach of the Year.