Lewis University Athletics

The 2021 season is the 14th season for Tim McDonough as head baseball coach at Lewis University. He is the fourth head coach in the 67-year history of the Lewis baseball program. McDonough has guided the Flyers to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament six of the last 11 years. In the 2015 season, McDonough earned is 200th win as head coach.

Lewis has earned 48 All-GLVC honors during McDonough’s tenure. All told 12 Flyers have taken home Daktronics or American Baseball Coaches Association All-Region accolades during McDonough’s time in Romeoville. In the classroom, Connor Rutherford (2019), Ben Albano (2014) and Matt Frahm (2013) were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America team. Albano was also named to the 2014 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America Honorable Mention squad. Since 2010, the Flyers have picked up 18 GLVC Player or Pitcher of the Week selections. The Flyers have earned the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award for having a team GPA over 3.0 three years in a row.

In 2019, McDonough led the Flyers back to the GLVC Tournament for the first time since 2014. Rutherford, Brandon Post, Peter Hamot and Ryan Schefske were named to the All-GLVC team. Post was also named to the ABCA and NCBWA All-Midwest Region team.

McDonough’s most accomplished season came in 2013. The squad won a program-record 23 GLVC games on their way to a GLVC East Division title. Eight Flyers were named All-GLVC. Lewis earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament and bested host and top seed Drury in the opening game 11-8. The Flyers also defeated Ashland in the regional 5-4 in dramatic fashion on a two-run home run by Jake Murray with two outs in the top of the ninth. Lewis compiled a 33-18 record on the year. Tom Helwich finished fourth in the GLVC in ERA (1.95) as he helped the Lewis hurlers post a 3.90 ERA. The duo of Murray and Ben Albano helped the Flyers lead the league in slugging (.433) and runs per game (6.84).

In 2012 the Flyers earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 1996. Lewis finished with a 33-22 mark. The squad, made up of many of McDonough’s first recruits, earned six All-GLVC nods. The entire starting outfield of Andrew Brauer, Mike Bolling and Albano were named to the All-GLVC First Team, a feat last accomplished by a Lewis team in 1987. On the mound, the Lewis pitching staff was anchored by Pat Lahey. He led the nation in fewest walks per nine innings by walking just six batters on the season. The 2012 Flyers earned three victories over nationally ranked squads, including a 12-6 decision over No. 6 Grand Valley State on March 8.
 
In 2011 Lewis won a GLVC Tournament game for the first time in nine seasons. Six Flyers were named All-GLVC, the highest total for a Lewis team since 1993. Following the season, the 2011 squad was honored with a GLVC Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Team Sportsmanship Award.

Several team statistical feats were driven by impressive individual seasons. In McDonough’s first year of 2008, Mike Smith batted .402 in conference games with a GLVC-best .484 on-base percentage. In 2009, Joe Scumaci’s 2.42 ERA was second in the GLVC among starters. In 2010, Scumaci led the GLVC in strikeouts with 94 and ranked 13th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (11.33). Bolling led the conference in stolen bases in 2011 (29) and 2012 (34). He also had a league-best 53 hits in GLVC games in 2012. Albano’s 11 home runs led the conference in 2012. In 2013, Jake Murray led the league in slugging (.623) and Tom Helwich earned a GLVC-best 10 wins on the mound. 2014 saw Albano lead the league in slugging (.651) and Murray own the home run title (9).
 
Prior to arriving at Lewis, McDonough spent five seasons as the top assistant at Northern Illinois University, where he served as the program's recruiting coordinator and hitting instructor. He also was an assistant at Kishwaukee Community College and North Central College.

McDonough's success as a recruiter resulted in consecutive nationally-ranked recruiting classes in 2005 and 2006. His 2006 class was lauded by the publication Collegiate Baseball as the No. 60 class nationally and featured five players from the state of Illinois, all ranked among the Land of Lincoln's Top 50 "Cream of the Crop" by the Illinois High School Coaches Association. The group ranked second among Mid-American Conference classes and above Minnesota, San Jose State and Missouri State.
 
The talented 2006 group surpassed the previous season's No. 70 class ranking when Collegiate Baseball recognized NIU's 2005 newcomers alongside national powers UCLA, Texas Tech, Central Florida and Baylor. It was the first time in over a decade the Huskies earned such prestigious accolades for its baseball recruiting.
 
McDonough made an immediate impact on the Huskie hitters during his first season at NIU. The 2003 squad set numerous season batting records, including hits (625), home runs (70) and runs scored (408). As a team, NIU hit .315, with seven players hitting better than .300. In year two under McDonough, the Huskies tied a school record with 21 triples and posted the second-highest marks in school annals in many offensive categories.
 
In 2005, Jeremy Busch became the first Huskie position player in 25 seasons to earn first-team All-MAC honors after hitting .340. In 2006, McDonough helped outfielder Brian Toner improve his batting average over 130 points from the previous season on his way to a first-team All-MAC selection, and first baseman Scott Simon became the NIU career hit leader. The duo of Simon and Toner hit .383 and .382, respectively, in the MAC.
 
During his time at Kishwaukee, the 2002 team posted a 41-16 record and had six players selected in the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft, half of whom were infielders coached by McDonough.
 
McDonough began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, North Central College (Naperville, Ill.). A nationally-ranked NCAA Division III baseball program, North Central won two College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) titles and earned two regional berths (1996 and 1998) during McDonough's four years on staff, culminating with a final national ranking of No. 15 following the 1998 season.
 
During his time as an assistant at NCC, McDonough also served as head coach for the Prairie Gravel Baseball Club of the Metro Collegiate Summer Baseball League. His squad won three-consecutive Metro College Summer Baseball League championships while sending 20 players to the professional baseball draft.
 
A standout infielder during his collegiate playing career, McDonough earned first-team All-CCIW honors in 1994 and helped the Cardinals capture a conference crown. In 1995, McDonough garnered a first-team nod while being named CCIW Player of the Year and winning the league's Triple Crown. His successful season was capped with recognition as a Division III All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association. McDonough graduated from NCC with a bachelor's degree in speech/broadcast communications in 1995.
 
A 1991 graduate of Burbank's St. Laurence High School, McDonough is originally from Bridgeview, Ill.
 
McDonough and his wife Amy have 11 children.

 

McDonough's Career Record
Year	Overall	GLVC	Postseason	All-GLVC Selections
2008	18-29	11-21		1
2009	20-32	8-19		3
2010	27-30	15-16	GLVC Tournament	3
2011	24-18	16-12	GLVC Tournament	6
2012	33-22	21-15	GLVC & NCAA Tournament	6
2013	33-18	23-10	GLVC & NCAA Tournament	8
2014	26-25	18-17	GLVC Tournament	5
2015	21-26	15-21		3
2016	26-21	15-13		5
2017	16-34	10-18		2
2018	19-27-1	8-15		2
2019	27-24	19-14	GLVC Tournament	4
2020*	7-4	2-1		0
	297-310-1 (.489)	181-192 (.485)		48