ALTON - After the final out of Marquette Catholic's loss to Columbia in the Roxana Class 2A Baseball Regional on May 22, Tim Fahnestock took more time than usual for his postgame huddle with his players.

Fahnestock, the head baseball coach at Marquette for the past 11 seasons, has decided to step down. He wrote his retirement letter last week on his 50th birthday. He later contacted his players by email and announced it officially at a team get-together Tuesday night.

"It wasn't an easy decision to make," Fahnestock said. "But when Will made his decision, it made it a little easier."

Will Fahnestock, a recent Marquette graduate, is Tim's youngest son. He will be playing baseball next season at Illinois Central College in East Peoria.

Fahnestock's older son, Charlie, just wrapped up his college soccer career at Southwestern Illinois College. Tim Fahnestock was able to watch most of Charlie's fall JUCO soccer games, but another spring high school baseball season would have meant not being able to watch Will play baseball much at all.

"Charlie's coming back to work for me with my company," Tim Fahnestock said. "He's decided to join the workforce."

Tim Fahnestock operates Arch Fire Protection, Inc., a fire sprinkler contractor.

"Life's too short," Tim Fahnestock said. "I don't know how many more years he will be playing baseball, and I want to be able to watch him play as much as I can."

Marquette athletic director Brian Hoener said Fahnestock's lifelong loyalty to Marquette is impressive.

“I would like to thank Coach Fahnestock for his loyalty, commitment, and dedication to the Explorer baseball program,” Hoener said. “He has spent countless hours in the dugout, on the diamond, and in the cages helping lead our baseball program.

"We thank him for his service and wish him the best in all of his future endeavors.”

Marquette will begin the search for Fahnestock’s successor immediately, Hoener said.

Fahnestock came up just shy of 200 wins in his 11 seasons as the Explorers' head coach. During his tenure, they went 194-148, including 17-15 this past season.

Marquette won 20 games in three consecutive seasons from 2017 through 2019. In 2017, they were 22-11 and captured a Class 2A regional championship. They went 20-10 the following season and were 22-10 in 2019. In 2022, MCHS was 20-13.

"I'd say the biggest win, at least for me, was the regional championship," he said. "We came back and beat Gillespie, then we lost to Teutopolis, who went on to win the state championship.

"It's all such a blur," Fahnestock said. "So many games, so many memories. Marquette is such a special place. The kind of kids that go there and the special people you get to meet there make it special."

Fahnestock did his part as well. A 1993 Marquette grad, he played for legendary and hall of fame coach Greg DeCoursey. he went on to play baseball at Lewis and Clark Community College and then to the University of Illinois Springfield, where he played both baseball and soccer and graduated in 1998.

Then it was back to Marquette as an assistant to DeCoursey, his former mentor. And following DeCoursey's retirement in 2007, Fahnestock was an assistant on Joe Silkwood's baseball coaching staff at MCHS.

In 2014, it was Fahnestock's turn. He stepped into the head coaching role after Silkwood stepped down.

"When I took over as head coach," he said, "I didn't really believe it was happening in a way.

"You had a legend like Greg DeCoursey and then a guy like Joe Silkwood, who played baseball at such a high level. I was definitely nervous. I didn't know if I was ready for it."

While selecting his favote win may be easy  to select, but not his favorite player. In Fahnstock's mind, such a player doesn't exist.

"They're all special," he said. "Getting to know so many great kids was awesome. And the friendships you make with other coaches are special, guys like Brian Hanslow (at Southwestern) and Jeremy Smith at Gillespie."

While son Will's graduation was front and center for his dad this spring, there were others that affected him as well.

"Going to all those graduation parties and seeing the pictures of the young, awkward kids and the good young men they turned into, it gets to you.

"Man, it's getting harder seeing these guys grow up."

Fahnestock said he feels fortunate.

"Marquette's a special place," Fahnestock said. "So many memories and so many good kids. I've been fortunate."

Looking back, Fahnestock is satisfied.

"I wouldn't change a thing," he said. "No regrets."