Knox College Men's Baseball

Isaacson was named the Knox head baseball coach prior to the the 2000 season, and since that time he's become the winningest coach in program history.  Isaacson guided Knox to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III baseball tournament in 2008 after winning the Midwest Conference title, earning him the MWC South Division Coach of the Year award. Most recently, the Prairie Fire won the South Division in 2013 and posted school-record totals of 22 wins overall and 13 in conference play.  Isaacson received the MWC South Coach of the Year for the third time in his career. Knox has advanced to the MWC tournmaent five times during Isaacson's tenure, highlighted by back-to-back trips in 2002 and 2003, and again in 2012 and 2013.  The Prairie Fire have placed third or higher in four of those five tournament appearances. Isaacson has coached several individual standouts at Knox, including 60 All-Midwest Conference performers and five all-region selections: Scott Rans (2002), Matt Briggs (2006), Paul Bennett (2008), Caleb Weaver (2013), and Drake Sykes (2015).  In addition, four players have been named the Midwest Conference South Division Player or Co-Player of the Year: Briggs in 2006, Paul Bennett in 2008, Kevin Malone in 2009, and Weaver in 2013.  Also in 2013, Paul Mills became the first Knox hurler chosen as the Midwest Conference South Division Pitcher of the Year.  The program is also proud of its numerous Academic All-Midwest Conference honorees. Isaacson has more than two decades of head coaching experience in the Midwest Conference. He began his career at Illinois College in 1994 when he was hired as the youngest head coach in the NCAA at age of 24. Isaacson led IC to the 1995 Midwest Conference Championship and four trips to the conference tournament in his five seasons as head coach through 1998. As the head baseball coach at Knox, Isaacson is the all-time leader in career wins (182) and Midwest Conference victories (79).  His 261 career wins over the course of 21 seasons rank #8 in Midwest Conference history. Isaacson also assists the Galesburg American Legion Post #285 baseball team, a role he's held for several years (1989-92, 2001-03, 2006-present). He's helped the squad advance to the state tournament five times. Isaacson was also the head coach of the Galesburg Pioneers of the former Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL). The CICL was a NCAA/MLB affiliated summer league where the nation's top players competed against each other on a summer circuit. As a player at Knox, Isaacson was a two-time All-Midwest Conference catcher, a two-time team Most Valuable Player, and the 1991 Midwest Conference Player of the Year.

Drake 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 last year, has returned to his alma mater to serve as the assistant baseball coach under long-time head coach Jami Isaacson for the 2025 season. 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. “Drake is simply the best player in Knox Baseball history,” Coach Isaacson stated. “His background since playing is fantastic. His understanding of recruitment and retention is exactly what we need. I am extremely excited to work with Coach Sykes.” While Sykes earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Knox College in 2017, he starred on the baseball diamond as a three-year letter winner, All-Midwest Conference Performer and team MVP. For his career, the outfielder hit a combined .452/.535/.742 (batting, on-base and slugging), setting school records with 173 hits, 284 total bases and his .535 on-base percentage while swatting 35 doubles, eight triples and 20 home runs to go with 109 runs scored and 109 RBIs over 103 games. He also still holds single-season program records in hits (60), total bases (99) and on-base percentage (.583). Twice the Knox College Harley Knosher Male Athete of the Year, Sykes earned ABCA All-Region honors three times and was an ABCA/Rawlings All-America Second Team selection as a junior — while also being named the Midwest Conference South Division Player of the Year — and All-America Third Team as a senior. Sykes played professionally as well, spending time in the Australian Capital Territory Baseball League, hitting .463/.554/.642 in 27 games, leading the team in all three categories for the 2018-19 season.

Clark, a 2009 Knox College graduate, joined the Prairie Fire coaching staff in the fall of 2013. Clark was a member of the 2008 Midwest Conference Championship baseball team and was a two-time Academic All-Midwest Conference honoree. Clark was the head baseball coach at Spoon River College from 2009 to 2011 and at Eureka College during the 2012 season. He also assisted on the Quincy Gems staff in the summer of 2011. The Gems took home the Prospect League Championship with a record of 40-18. He recently headed the Laramie Colts Baseball Club in their inaugaral season in the Rocky Mountain Baseball League. The Colts finished with a record of 24-15 (23-10 in the RMBL). Starting in the summer of 2006 Clark assisted his father, the late John Clark, with the Oneida American Legion Post 727 baseball program in Oneida, IL. Clark also serves as the Sports Information Director at Knox.  He earned a masters degree in sport management from Western Illinois University.

Knox College Baseball Head Coach Drake Sykes ’17 announced the hiring of DeShawn Welch as his assistant coach in early September 2025 for the 2026 season. “I’m extremely grateful Drake called and told me he wanted me to be the guy to come in and handle the pitching staff. It was easy having already worked with him previously. We work well together and have the same drive for developing young athletes as well as building a solid culture. When I was on campus, the entire staff was extremely friendly and welcoming, and I couldn't be more excited to join this group at Knox College.” Welch spent nearly two years as a development coach with the Iowa Sticks, a club for budding players featuring modern-day training and development techniques from high school players all the way down to T-ball. He would lead up to 15 team practices per week for ages up to 18, focusing on both offensive and defensive skills. During the summer and fall seasons, Welch would coach travel teams between the ages of 12-18, competing in over 15 tournaments. A 2022 graduate of Campbellsville University with a degree in kinesiology, Welch began his coaching career while still in college, working as a coach and assistant manager for Grit Performance 515. He gave lessons on proper warm-up techniques, focusing on the mechanical development while also teaching the fundamentals of the game. In three seasons on the Campbellsville baseball team, Welch pitched in 25 games, all but one as a reliever, and compiled a 2-2 record and 4.78 ERA in 26.1 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .248 average. Following his graduation, the native of Indianola, Iowa, served as an assistant baseball coach at Carlisle High School, working specifically with pitchers and corner infielders.