North Park University Men's Baseball

Coach Luke Johnson completed his 21st season at the helm of North Park Baseball in 2026. His team qualified for the CCIW Tournament for the seventh-straight season, culminating in the conference tournament championship. Johnson guided the Vikings back to CCIW gold in 2024 and entered the Viking Hall of Fame in February 2025 as part of the 2024 HOF class. The four-time CCIW Coach of the Year has turned the 1-39 CCIW basement-dwelling club of 2005 into a program that has garnered attention on the conference and national level.  On his watch, the Vikings have become multiple time CCIW Champions, routinely qualify for the CCIW  postseason tournament, earned spots in both the regional and national rankings, and competed in the NCAA tournament. Johnson’s players appear throughout the career and single season record books.  They’ve fared well on the CCIW level with 50+ of his players being named to the All-CCIW squad.  The Vikings have had 3 CCIW “Player of the Year” award recipients, earned two CCIW “Pitcher of the Year” awards and one CCIW “Newcomer of the Year” nod as well. On the national level, 30+ players have been selected to the Rawlings/ABCA All Central Region team, with five ABCA All-American award winners and 5 Rawlings National Gold Glove winners.  They have also been well-represented in NCBWA/D3baseball.com’s honor roll as well, with eight All-Central Region awards and two "Central Region Player of the Year" selections.   Johnson’s Vikings have also included MLB draft picks and free-agent signees.  For his efforts, Johnson has earned the CCIW “Coach of the Year” award four times (2006, 2011, 2012, 2024). Johnson is the NPU all-time wins leader for the baseball program (385). The accolades for his teams are not strictly baseball related, however. The Vikings baseball team has produced multiple CCIW Jack Swartz Award winners and has received the ABCA Academic Excellence Award 9 straight years. North Park is one of just two CCIW institutions to earn team academic honors in each year since the ABCA started handing out the award. A Mendota, Ill. native, Johnson has also held coaching positions with other national organizations. In 2005 and 2006, Johnson held positions with USA Baseball as a Trials Coach for the Youth National Team.  The 2006 National Team went on to win the Gold medal over the likes of Cuba, Venezuela, and Mexico in the COPABE/Pan-Am Championships. In 2004 he served as an assistant for the Holyoke Giants of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The NECBL is an NCAA-sanctioned, wood-bat college summer league. Professionally, Johnson has served since 2010 as the Region VIII chair for the ABCA/Rawlings All-America committee as well as having held past positions as the NCAA national selection committee chair for baseball as well as the ABCA for the Central region.  He has been a featured speaker for the ABCA Barnstormers Clinic as well as the BCA national High School Coaches clinic and The Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association clinic.   He spent four seasons as an assistant at CCIW rivals Elmhurst ('02) and North Central ('03-'05). As a player at Elmhurst College (now University), Johnson set an NCAA record for consecutive times reaching base safely (all divisions), earned both All-CCIW First Team and Rawlings/ABCA All-Central Region honors as an outfielder, as well as a two-time Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-Region honors as a student. He still holds places in the career record book in a number of Elmhurst career and single season offensive categories. He holds degrees from both Elmhurst and North Central.  Johnson and his wife, Kelli, are the parents of three children; Jacob, Brady, and Erin. NPU COACHING CAREER, SEASON-BY-SEASON Season Record (CCIW) CCIW Finish Postseason Finish / Awards 2006   14-27 (8-13) 4th     CCIW Tourney (0-1), CCIW C.O.Y. 2007 14-26 (7-14) 7th DNQ 2008 16-24 (6-14) 6th DNQ 2009 18-20 (8-13) 5th DNQ 2010 28-15 (15-7) 2nd CCIW Tourney (0-2) 2011 30-12 (15-6) T-1st CCIW Co-Champs, CCIW Tourney (0-2), CCIW C.O.Y. 2012 32-14 (14-7) 1st CCIW Champs/Tourney Champs, NCAA Tourney Qualifier, CCIW C.O.Y. 2013 21-21 (12-9) 3rd CCIW Tourney (1-2) 2014 23-18 (13-8) 3rd CCIW Tourney (0-2) 2015 18-22 (7-14) 7th DNQ 2016 15-25 (6-15) 7th DNQ 2017 15-25 (8-16) 8th DNQ 2018 20-23 (13-11) 4th CCIW Tourney (2-2) 2019 24-18 (13-11) 6th CCIW Tourney (2-2) 2020 5-7* - *Season cut short, COVID 2021 18-23 (12-20) 5th CCIW Tourney (1-2) 2022 16-25 (7-11) 6th CCIW Tourney (2-2) 2023 15-27 (9-9) 4th CCIW Tourney (0-2) 2024 30-13 (16-4) T-1st CCIW Tourney (1-2), CCIW C.O.Y. 2025 13-26 (8-12) 6th CCIW Tourney (0-1) 2026 25-19 (11-9) 3rd Earned win no. 400 (April 6), CCIW Tournament Championship Appearance (3-2) Career 410-430 (208-224)

Upwood played collegiately at Ithaca College in New York from 1998-2002 under Hall of Fame coach George Valesente. As a member of the Bombers pitching staff, Upwood earned First Team All-Conference honors his sophomore and junior years as well as an Academic All-American nomination. He went on to play professionally as a member of the Gary Southshore Railcats and Lincoln Salt Dogs of the Northern League.  From there, after leading the Railcats in earned run average with a 1.86, Upwood was signed by the San Diego Padres organization and played for their Class A affiliate the Fort Wayne Wizards out of the Midwest League. After stints with the Arizona Padres Rookie League as well as the New Jersey Jackals and Can-Am Grays, Upwood went on to play for the Sussex Skyhawks as well as the South Georgia Peanuts where he helped lead the team to a 2007 South Coast League Championship with a team-best 2.53 ERA. He was also second in appearances with 35. While a player in the minor league systems, Upwood also served as the pitching coach at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse New York from 2006-2011. He then moved on to serve as the pitching coach for the Railcats for two seasons where he helped lead the team to the 2013 American Association Championship. As the Railcats pitching coach, Upwood had at least one starting pitcher finish in the leagues top-ten in ERA as well as earning top-five team records in wins, ERA and WHIP (walks, plus hits, plus innings pitched) under his tutelage. He also had one players contract purchased by a Major League team and his pitching staff led the postseason in every category. His time at North Park has seen a continuation of the upward trajectory of the development of the pitching staff.  Upwood has led staffs that have thrown strikes consistently, shown durability, and continued to display a knack for pitch-making.  Upwoods work with the 2015 staff saw considerable growth in a number of his pitchers.  Their 92 walks as a staff (a paltry 2.37/nine innings) was the lowest in the CCIW, and their 12 complete games were the highest. "Jakes ability to teach pitchability to a variety of types of pitchers is really an asset.  He works with our pitchers to pound the strike zone, and gets guys with different stuff to compete at a really high level.  In the two years hes been here, a significant number of high innings contributors to our staff have seen quantifiable improvement.  He fits very nicely in the niche that weve carved out for our pitching coach position, states head coach Luke Johnson. Upwood also handles Strength and Conditioning for the Viking program.  He holds certification as a CSCS from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.  As the Associate Head Coach, he holds significant administrative responsibilities in all facets of the program.  Upwood holds a B.A. in Sport Management from Ithaca and is completing his MBA at North Park. Hes had success in a nationally prominent NCAA Division III program as a player at Ithaca, as well as a professional baseball background with the Padres and at the Independent level.  Hes prepared guys to pitch at both the college and professional level, which is something that makes him pretty unique. He continues to deliver on the expectation that our program is used to, having our staff being prepared professionally, and his background in strength and conditioning is a big plus.  Our pitchers throw strikes, compete in every spot in the strike zone, and are durable." states head coach Luke Johnson.

Coach Luke Johnson has announced the hiring of Trent Abernathy as Assistant Coach / Pitching Coach for North Park University Baseball. Abernathy joins the Vikings in October 2024 after coaching with Division II Concord University for the past three seasons. “I’m very happy to welcome Trent to North Park,” said Johnson. “I think he will fit in well with our players and existing staff and has the ability to put his mark on our pitching staff and program in a really positive way.  We have always been fortunate to have competent and competitive pitching coaches and that will hold to form with this hire.  In Trent, we are getting a young coach who has had successful experience and total autonomy in directing and developing a pitching staff for a scholarship program, significant recruiting responsibility, as well as many administrative duties within a baseball program and athletic department.  He’s really packed a lot of good experience into his three prior years as an assistant.” Abernathy began his collegiate coaching career in 2021 as a graduate assistant for his alma mater, Concord. He assumed full-time assistant coach responsibilities in June of 2023, developing pitchers and outfielders. Abernathy, who also worked as a recruiting coordinator for the Mountain Lions, helped guide the 2023 Concord Baseball team to a 29-21 overall record with a 23-7 league record in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). That team also finished third in the MEC Tournament. He developed five players to All-MEC status including the MEC Pitcher of the Year, Andrew Neff. “In the interview process, Trent showed a great working knowledge of the importance of having a pitching staff that throws a ton of strikes,” Coach Johnson continued. “You can tell he knows that’s the bedrock of winning and how to stress and teach that. The prior pitching staff he’s led did and I’m looking forward to him continuing that here.  I think he has a high ceiling as a coach and I’m excited for him to have the multitude of opportunities to learn and grow against the competitive backdrop that is the CCIW.  He has already hit the ground running.”         In his time as a pitcher at Concord, Abernathy appeared on the MEC’s All-Conference ballot twice (2018, 2021) and was a Second Team All-Region pick by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) in 2021. In his collegiate career, he collected 14 wins and a save, tossing seven complete games across 209 innings pitched. He struck out 223 hitters against just 85 walks. Abernathy’s 223 career strikeouts are good for fourth in Concord Baseball history and his 209 IP rank eighth. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to join Coach Johnson and the North Park Baseball Team,” said Abernathy. “I’m looking forward to working with this group of hard working and talented guys that are in the program. They’re coming off a great season and I’m excited to help them continue to develop, build off last year, and take the next step both in baseball and in their lives.”

https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/baseball/roster/coaches/dan-kusinski/1041