Playing an aggressive style of small-ball, the Prairie Fire baseball team is one of the most exciting teams to watch at Knox College. Coached by 1992 Knox graduate Drake Sykes '17, the team employs plenty of hit-and-run and straight-steal tactics to disrupt the opposing defense.
The Prairie Fire won the Midwest Conference championship in 2008 and earned an automatic berth to the 2008 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. That season, Knox won the conference's South Division and the right to host the Midwest Conference tournament. After dropping the first game of the tournament, Knox rebounded with four straight wins to claim the conference title.
The Prairie Fire, most recently the 2013 Midwest Conference South Division champion, have earned four top-three finishes in the conference since 2002. Knox placed third in the 2013 Midwest Conference Tournament, the team's second straight trip to the tourney. The 2013 squad also set new program records for wins in a season (22) and conference wins in a season (13).Â
Prairie Fire baseball has had its share of individual standouts with six all-region selections since 2002: Scott Rans, Matt Briggs, Paul Bennett, Caleb Weaver, Drake Sykes, and Paul Sanders. Five players from Knox have been named the Midwest Conference South Division Player of the Year: Briggs in 2006, Bennett in 2008, Kevin Malone in 2009, Weaver in 2013, and Sykes in 2016. In addition, Paul Mills became the first Knox baseball player to be named the Midwest Conference South Division Pitcher of the Year when he won the award in 2013. In the past season, players EJ Roncone received South Division Newcomer of the Year, along with Dalton James and Andrew Ponce receiving South Division All-MWC Team.
Sykes, a Galesburg native who was a two-time All-America baseball player at Knox College and was inducted into the Knox-Lombard Athletics Hall of Fame, has returned to his alma mater to serve as the baseball coach.
This is Sykes' second stint on the athletics staff having served in this role for the 2019-20 academic year as well as the assistant softball coach in the spring of 2018. He also spent two years as the graduate assistant coach at William Penn for the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, helping the Statesmen post a combined record of 59-39 over the two seasons. He also earned a master's in sports management in 2022 from the institution.
The Prairie Fire play home games at Blodgett Field, one of the best facilities in the Midwest Conference. Because of the well-constructed drainage system, the field can be ready for play just hours after the heaviest of rainfall.
The baseball team uses the indoor batting cages at Knox's T. Fleming Fieldhouse in the offseason, and the spacious infield of Turner Track at Trevor Field is also available for fielding practice. In addition, the state-of-the-art E. & L. Andrew Fitness Center gives players access to some of the finest training equipment in the Midwest.
Knox baseball players have gone on to a wide variety of successful careers. They include Geoff Ziegler '03 (Chemistry), who works for ESPN in media technology. In addition, Brett Barnhart '96 (Biochemistry) is an orthopedic surgeon at Coleman Clinic. James Rhodes '71 (Political Science) is a circuit court judge in Chicago. Ryan Stuffelbeam '98 (Mathematics, Computer Science) is a professor of mathematics at Transylvania University in Kentucky.
For more information, submit the Recruit Me form or e-mail Associate Head Coach DeShawn Welch at dwelch@knox.edu.
