Dominican University (IL) Men's Baseball

Dvorak comes to Dominican from nearby Oakton Community College, where he served as Assistant Coach, working with Oakton’s players in a variety of capacities. He also brings experience from the non-collegiate ranks, serving as an Assistant Coach for the Charlottesville TomSox during Summer 2021.    The Elmhurst, Ill. native also served as a Graduate Assistant at his alma mater, North Park University, from January 2019 to May 2021. While in school at NPU, Dvorak hit .327 in two seasons, starting 82 games, and racked up eight homers and 66 career RBI, serving as both an infielder and catcher for the Vikings.    He graduated from NPU in 2018 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Sport Management and went on to get his Master’s in Business Administration from NPU in May of 2021.   

Gilmer comes to Dominican from Fort Worth, Texas where he served as the Varsity Baseball Coach at Ripon High School and as the owner of Sandlot Baseball LLC.  During his tenure as varsity baseball coach, Gilmer developed detailed practice plans designed to maximize each player’s development and performance. He created the team schedule, coordinated transportation logistics, and oversaw the ordering of uniforms and program equipment. Matt primarily worked with the outfielders, while also assisting with infielders and pitchers as needed. During his time as owner of Sandlot Baseball LLC, Gilmer managed four to six teams per season while overseeing practice and game schedules, budgeting, payment collection, and parent communication. He served as the primary recruiting contact for players aspiring to compete at the next level, reaching out to college coaches, creating recruiting videos, and coordinating communication through emails and phone calls. Matt has helped more than 60 players continue their careers at the collegiate level, with four advancing to Minor League Baseball and four competing in independent professional baseball.  

Bryce Skelton joined the Stars coaching staff prior to the 2018 season as a part-time assistant coach before being elevated to full-time in July of 2020. Skelton comes to Dominican University after a successful playing career at fellow NACC institution Lakeland University. Since joining the staff, Skelton has mentored a pair of All-Conference and All-Region hitters as the Star's hitting coach. Skelton was a four-year starting catcher for the Muskies, leading the team in home runs and runs scored during his junior and senior seasons. The Wisconsin native also paced the team in doubles and slugging percentage during his junior campaign before leading Lakeland in triples and on-base percentage during his senior year.                                                           Following his playing career at Lakeland, Skelton spent a season with the Roswell Invaders, a professional independent league baseball team in the Pecos League.   In addition to his playing background, Skelton had served as Director of Operations for the Illinois Travel Baseball Club and a catching/hitting instructor at Playball USA  

Tyler Kara joined the Stars' baseball coaching staff prior to the 2023 season. Kara is a former Dominican baseball player who was with the program from 2019-21. He came from Henderson, Nevada and pitched in 25 games for the Stars.

In July of 2011, Steve Hardman became the ninth head coach in Dominican University baseball history.  During his tenure as head coach, Hardman has guided the Stars to a pair of appearances in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament while shattering a number of program records including wins when he guided the Stars to 24 in 2014 while posting a program-best 3.79 earned run average.   In Hardman’s first season as a collegiate head coach, he led Dominican to a 21-22 overall record and an 11-11 mark in the NACC to claim the program’s first-ever trip to the NACC Tournament since the conference was founded in 2006 where they topped Edgewood 6-5 to earn the program’s first NACC Tournament victory. Two years later in 2014, Hardman had the Stars within one win of the NACC Tournament final, winning back-to-back tournament games as the fifth seed. In addition to the on-field success under Hardman, the Stars have had similar success in the classroom. Dominican has raised their team GPA from a 2.8 in 2012 to a 3.48 in 2020.   Hardman’s players have received internships with Northwest Mutual, Morgan Stanley, WGN Sports, Wilson Sports, the Schaumburg Boomers, and the Republican National Committee. Prior to coming to Dominican, Hardman spent five seasons with the North Park University Vikings, serving as the associate head baseball coach. During his time with the Vikings, he helped head coach Luke Johnson rebuild the North Park baseball program, improving from 14 wins in Hardman’s first season to 30 wins and a share of the 2011 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season championship. With the Vikings, Hardman mentored 26 All-CCIW performers including 13 All-Region selections as well as a conference pitcher of the year. In addition to the athletic success the Vikings experienced, the program grew in roster size from 28 in 2007 to 40 in 2011 with Hardman serving as the department’s athletic admission recruiter. While growing the roster, the baseball team grade point average also increased from 2.3 to 3.1. Prior to his stint at North Park, Hardman cut his teeth at North Central College, where he spent four seasons with the Cardinals’ baseball program as an assistant coach. He also spent three summers as the head coach of the Glen Ellyn Jam of the Chicago-Metro Collegiate Summer League with the Jam finishing as the runner-up in the AAABC tournament in Johnstown, Pa. As a collegiate player, Hardman played at nearly every level, beginning his career at Division III Loras College where he went 8-1 as a starting pitcher for the Duhawks and was named the team's Newcomer of the Year. After his freshman season, he transferred to Illinois Valley Community College where he garnered Rawlings/ABCA All-American honors in 1999. Hardman finished his collegiate career at Division I Northern Illinois University where he was a two-year letterwinner for the Huskies. After college, he pitched professionally for three seasons with three teams in the Frontier League including the Cook County Cheetahs, the Rockford River Hawks and the Kenosha Mammoths.   Hardman currently resides in Bloomingdale with his wife, Sarah and twins Colton and Tessa.