Joe Kelch returned to SIUE baseball in September 2022 as an assistant coach after spending three seasons on the staff at Illinois-Springfield. He spent last season as the Associate Head Coachand was the program's recruiting coordinator and hitting coach.
In 2022, Kelch assisted with the top UIS team in program history. The Prairie Stars won their first GLVC Championship Tournament, and captured NCAA Regional and NCAA Super Regional titles. UIS advanced to the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament for the first time.
UIS ranked sixth in NCAA Division II at 10.0 runs per game, and was also top-10 offensively in walks, doubles, hits, home runs, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Kelch coached two All-Americans, including Zion Pettigrew, the GLVC and Midwest Regional Player of the Year. Four other players earned All-GLVC and All-Region honors.
The 2021 Prairie Stars won the GLVC Regular Season Championship, reached the finals of the GLVC Tournament, and was the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament. UIS finished the year with a 37-8 overall record, and a 30-5 GLVC mark. Kelch oversaw an offense which ranked fourth in NCAA Division II at 10.1 runs a game. UIS was second nationally in batting average, fourth in slugging percentage, and seventh in on-base percentage.
Among the offensive stars that Kelch coached was Pettigrew, who was named the GLVC and Midwest Region Player of the Year. Kal Youngquist was also a first-team All-American and first-team all-GLVC selection. Austin Alderman and Chris Mathieu both were All-Region picks, and Chris Monroe earned first-team All-GLVC honors.
In Kelch’s first season in 2020, UIS went 10-4 in the pandemic-shortened season. The Prairie Stars had one of the top offenses in NCAA Division II that year. UIS led the nation with 1.86 home runs per game, and set a NCAA Division II single-season record with nine grand slams. The team was also in the top-15 nationally at 10.6 runs a game.
Kelch arrived at UIS after spending two seasons coaching at Bradley University, where he focused on infield defense and assisted with the hitters. While at Bradley, he helped the team’s hitters win six all-conference honors, including four first-team accolades. In his first season at Bradley in 2018, the Braves improved by 12 wins and finished the year with a 32-19 record. With Kelch on staff, Bradley hitters hit .294 for the year, an improvement over a .268 mark from the previous season. Bradley also improved its on-base percentage and slugging percentage. In 2019, Bradley had another 30-win season after it finished the year with a 31-19 record.
Kelch's first stint at SIUE came in 2017 as the volunteer assistant where he worked with infield defense and the hitters. The Cougars went 23-29 that year, an improvement of 14 wins in just one season. In 2017, SIUE hitters hit .293 and averaged 6.6 runs a game, an improvement of 2.5 runs a contest. Two hitters earned all-conference honors, including one first-team award, and another was named to the all-freshman team.
As a player, Kelch appeared in 163 games, making 136 starts for Illinois State from 2012-2016. He hit .289 with a .382 slugging percentage and .366 on-base percentage. He scored 72 runs and drove in 63. He had 18 doubles, two triples, and nine home runs. He was named a second-team all-Missouri Valley Conference performer as a junior. That year, he hit .338 with an on-base percentage better than .400. He collected 18 runs, 24 RBIs, eight doubles, and four home runs.
Kelch, and his wife Emily, have a son, Jackson.
