Tyler Hinchliffe - Baseball Coach - UNC Asheville Athletics

Tyler Hinchliffe

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
baseball@unca.edu

Tyler Hinchliffe has spent the last two seasons serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the UNC Asheville baseball team. During his time with the Bulldogs, Hinchliffe has worked with the Bulldog pitchers.

The 2017 Bulldogs were probably a year ahead of where head coach Scott Friedholm and others expected them to be as evidence by UNC Asheville being picked to finish 10^th in the conference prior to the season by the league’s coaches. With a young roster that featured 16 underclassmen, including nine freshmen, the Bulldogs mounted a successful campaign that saw them claim 25 victories, including six series wins, en route to finishing tied for fifth in the regular-season league standings with an 11-13 record. UNC Asheville capped the year by advancing to the Big South Conference Baseball Championship for the first time since 2012.

The 25 wins is tied for sixth-most in program history and marked the second time in the Scott Friedholm era that a team had collected at least 20 wins, becoming just the fourth Bulldog head coach to win 20 or more games in multiple seasons. More importantly, the Bulldogs were not swept during the season and were the only Big South Conference team to defeat every other program in the league during the campaign.

During the season, the Bulldogs took series wins over Iona, UMBC and Longwood at home and also claimed road series over Presbyterian and Campbell and won two-of-three in Spartanburg in the second weekend of the season. The Bulldogs also posted a winning record at home (12-11) for the first time since 2012, when UNC Asheville also finished 12-11.

The 2017 Bulldogs went 11-13 in Big South Conference action, finishing tied for fifth in the league standings to earn the No. 6 seed in the league tournament. The 11 wins in conference action were the most since the Bulldogs won 12 league games in 2012.

Earning a berth into the postseason was not enough for the Bulldogs as the team won a game in the postseason tournament for the first time since 2008 and then took it another step further by winning multiple games (2) while advancing to the semifinal round for the first time since the 2007 season.

Statistically, the Bulldogs saw a 10-year low in errors in the field and posted a 10-year high in fielding percentage as a team. UNC Asheville’s pitching corps continued to make strides as they combined for a 6.05 team ERA, the lowest under Friedholm’s watch, and struck out 365 batters, the most in the last 10 campaigns.

The 2016 campaign saw the Bulldogs finish the season with a 16-38 record, including a 3-2 road win over 11^th-ranked UNC. The win over the nationally-ranked Tarheels marked the first time any UNC Asheville program had bested a team from UNC. Asheville also claimed series over Mount St. Mary’s, Presbyterian College and Charleston Southern.

Under Hinchliffe’s direction, the 2016 Bulldog pitching corps saw an improved earned run average from 2015. The 2016 Bulldog pitchers also allowed fewer earned runs and fewer walks to opponents and boasted a lower opponent batting average from the season prior.

Prior to coming to Asheville, Hinchliffe was a four-year member of the Boston College baseball team. A left-handed pitcher, he spent time with head coach Scott Friedholm in Boston before the Bulldog coach’s arrival in Asheville.

In addition to his time on the field, Hinchliffe has also worked with Boston College Summer Baseball Camps, the Hit Doctor Baseball Academy and as the Tournament Director for Perfect Game.

Away from baseball, he has volunteered and participated in the Welles Crowther 5K Red Bandana Run in the Boston area for several years and has spent time working with Campus School, a program at Boston College for children with complex disabilities. Additional experiences include participating in the Wounded Warrior Project, where he engaged with wounded warriors while raising awareness in the annual baseball and softball games while spending time with the warriors and learning about their experiences.