Chicago, Ill. – The Dominican University Baseball team adds a game at North Park University on Tuesday afternoon, after the cancellations this past weekend. 

DU in Review:

The 2025 season marks the 14th season with Head Coach Steve Hardman at the helm. The Stars finished with a 15-25 record overall and were 7-17 in the NACC. 

-DU heads into 2025 looking to make the conference tournament for the first time since 2019. 

-As a team, the Stars are hitting a .264 batting average and have a 5.35 team ERA. 

-The Stars finished the 2025 RussMatt Baseball Invitational with a 5-3 record, achieving wins over Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Saint Vincent, Northland, Mount St. Jospeh, and Albion.

-DU went to Augustana in hopes of playing three games but only played one against Illinois College. 

-Dominican begins NACC play against St. Norbert at Wintrust Field on Sunday, March 23rd.

Last Time Out:
-The Stars fell to Illinois College 8-5 on Saturday to fall to 7-5 on the year.

-Sophomore Ty Phillips led the Stars going 2-3 with a walk, 3 RBIs, a run scored and a double. 
-Junior Tyler Johnson went 1-3 with 2 hit-by-pitches and 2 RBIs. 

-Freshman Ethan Buckner has continued to show his dominance on the bump out of the bullpen. Buckner went 5 innings with 3 strikeouts and only allowed 2 earned runs.  

Star Gazing:
-Graduate Student Grayson Downing leads DU with a .400 batting average and 20 hits, 11 runs scored, and 7 RBIs. 
 -Junior Zach Helein has a .286 batting average with 12 hits and 4 RBIs on the season. 

-Sophomore Ty Phillips stepped up Saturday afternoon and will have to continue to step up with the injury to G. Downing. Phillips has a .286 batting average with 4 hits and 4 RBIs. 
 -Senior CJ Kalekas is 2-0 on the season with an ERA of 3.00 and 10 strikeouts.

Familiar Faces:
   -Dominican returns Graduate Student Grayson Downing after only playing 17 games in his senior year, G. Downing is a lockdown centerfielder that has a career batting average of .363 in his 127 games in a Stars uniform. G. Downing only has 4 errors in his collegiate career with a .990 fielding percentage. 

-Senior CJ Kalekas is one of the right fielders and pitchers on the DU roster and returns with a .284 career batting average and a 7.63 career ERA. Kalekas threw 21.2 innings on the mound last season. On the offensive side, Kalekas collected 29 hits and 15 RBIs.

-Junior Zach Helein is a two-year left fielder for the Stars and has produced a lot in his time in a DU uniform. Helein holds a .300 career batting average with 36 total hits and 18 total RBIs. Helein does not make mistakes in the outfield with just 3 errors and holds a .966 fielding percentage in left field.  

-Senior Matthew Hannafin is returning from injury during his junior year and the Stars are excited to get the 6-2 righty back on the mound. Hannafin holds a 6.05 career ERA with 34 strikeouts through two full seasons of pitching. 

-Sophomore Langdon Downing is looking to make a big jump headed to his sophomore year. L. Downing is a 5-11 right-handed pitcher who threw 17.1 innings as a freshman. L.Downing collected 19 strikeouts in his freshman year. 

 

GAME 1

Series History vs. North Park University:
All-Time Record / Streak: 3-18 / Dominican L1
Last Meeting (4/22/24): Dominican 4, North Park 14

Scouting Report vs. North Park:

-North Park is 3-11 in the 2025 season. 

-The Vikings are coming off a weekend with a split against Lawrence University. NPU won game 1 8-7 and lost 14-4 in 8 innings in game 2. 

-North Park has a .269 team batting average and has scored 67 total runs, but has given up 117 total runs on the season. 

-The Vikings have a 7.66 team ERA with their ace having a .458 ERA.