University of Illinois Springfield baseball coach Ryan Copeland was named the ABCA NCAA Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year this week. It is the second straight season that Copeland has earned a Regional Coach of the Year honor.
 
Copeland, who just completed his third season at UIS, led the Prairie Stars to a 48-11 record this past season. UIS won both the GLVC Division Regular Season Championship, and the GLVC Tournament Championship. In NCAA postseason play, it won a Midwest Regional Tournament and the Midwest Super Regionals, and earned a bid to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship for the first time.
 
UIS ranked in the top-10 nationally this past season in walks, doubles, hits, home runs, on-base percentage, runs, scoring, slugging percentage, strikeouts per nine innings, and winning percentage. The Prairie Stars led the Midwest Region in scoring with 10 runs a game, and they were second in the region with a 4.48 ERA. On the year, the Prairie Stars went 44-6 when facing teams from the Midwest Region.
 
Copeland, who was the NCBWA Region Coach of the Year in 2021, now has a 95-23 record as head coach of the Prairie Stars, and a 244-94 mark including his four seasons as an assistant. In the two full seasons that he has coached, UIS has won two GLVC Division titles, one GLVC Tournament, one NCAA Region Championship, and one NCAA Midwest Super Regional Championship. Copeland was also named Coach of the Year by the GLVC in 2021.