Does anyone have anything that they can relate regarding Lewis University? Anything about either their baseball program or academics at the school would be greatly appreciated. I have visited their website, but I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience with the university that they could tell me about. Thanks!!

They were on some sort of probation. I do not know if they still are.

Their coach was at the JC playoffs last year (hosted by ECC) and commented that he was being forced to use scholarship money to pay off a debt created when the previous staff mishandled housing .... I don't know if that is still the case, or if that is related to the probation that Baseball622 mentioned.

Aren't they in a wood bat league?

NCAA champs in volleyball or used to have the title.........

Lewis University is a very good school with good academic and athletic possibilities.
Irish O'Reilly a former pitcher with Boston and long time baseball coach is the head coach at Lewis... He knows the game, teaches fundamentals very, very, well and stresses education as well as athletics.
Their schedule is excellent for a school their size and he doesn't shy away from playing the "Big Boys." Definitely one of the better baseball schools in this area...

Fungo...They were forced to forfeit the national title and a couple of entire seasons of victories...What I heard...it was about having former professional players from some South American countries on their school rosters.

School is about 4500-5000 students now. When they get to 7,000 and get a football program, will get much improved sports programs generally.

Used to be one of the top baseball programs in the entire state until administrative mistakes by the AD, and $ cutbacks by the president limited their resources. Baseball America had Lewis ranked at the #4 D-2 program in the country in the 90's. Head Coach Irish O'Reilly knows the game well and is well respected. He served as President of the entire ABCA this past year.

Yep, They play in a wood bat conference...the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The conferenc is one of the few that the league champion gets an automatic birth in the NCAA DII Tournament and they regularly have 2-3 teams that make the tournament. The league just grew from 11 to 13 teams and will add one more school next year. Here's a link gor the conference:

http://www.siue.edu/ATHLETIC/BB/bbglvc.html

Mde5, good post. How's the weather in Arizona by the way? I'm looking forward to traveling down to Arizona for spring training next month.

Thanks Rebel222. The weather here has been ...DRY...something like 125-130 days without any rain. Temps have been in the mid to upper 70's with just a few cloudy days...not complaining at all though. I am sure you will enjoy the weather we will be in the 80's and low 90's before we know it...I think it was 82 today. Enjoy your trip.

Lewis was definately one of the top DII programs in the 90's. But over the course of the last 4-5 seasons they've really gone on a free fall.

They're not getting the talent they use to in the 90's and are being outhustled for recruits by other schools in the DII/NAIA category in close range of Chicago. (St X, St Joes, Wisconsin-Parkside to name a few)

Previous staff mishandled housing? For baseball? I don't think the NCAA punishes the baseball team for what another school sport does. The previous baseball staff is from about 25 years ago, as Irish has been at Lewis for quite a while.

Though still a solid academic school, there are more "fancier" places for players of that quality to look into right now.

Good luck.

quote:

Previous staff mishandled housing? For baseball? I don't think the NCAA punishes the baseball team for what another school sport does. The previous baseball staff is from about 25 years ago, as Irish has been at Lewis for quite a while.

Somehow, whether it is a routine thing or someone new was hired, the school reviewed the baseball team's "records" and realized that the some past baseball players had been living in a higher priced dorm (or had the higher priced meal plan) but the baseball team wa paying a lower rate - so the current staff had to allocate scholarship money to repaying the school.

Although I was eavesdropping a little, I didn't want to blatantly listen to the whole conversation.

Slidepiece, your correct! Although in the 90's Lewis was a very solid program. Hopefully they can turn things back around soon.

Ratboy, Thank you for the follow up post. That sounds very interesting and somewhat embarrassing for the staff at Lewis.

Hawk88, I'm very bad at sugar coating things! It is what it is.

I would say it's very embarrassing to the baseball coaches when the financial aid/bursar's office are the ones who made the mistakes and then your stuck paying for them. Good job administration!!!!

Its a great place to go if you want to be a pilot

I played with a lot of guys who played for Irish from 98 to about 01, some of his better players (Doyle, Wills, Johnson, The Ingram Brothers) and they had mix feelings. Most of the pitchers were over used an abused. THe latest being one of our pitchers in 04 would throw long relief one day and start the next...he didnt make it to his senior year

If you want more details, feel free to ask