Chris Bresnahan - Baseball Coach - UNC Asheville Athletics

Chris Bresnahan

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
cbresnah@unca.edu
Phone:
250-6903

Chris Bresnahan will begin his 10th season as a member of the UNC Asheville baseball coaching staff in 2024. In July of 2022, Bresnahan was promoted to the post of Associate Head Coach after spending his previous eight seasons as an Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator.

During his time in Asheville so far, Bresnahan has helped recruit and coach 14 All-Big South honorees during his tenure, which includes Asheville's all-time home run leader Brandon Lankford (52 home runs) and the program's all-time saves leader, Kole Harris (17 saves).

The hard work of Bresnahan, the players, and the rest of the coaching staff showed in 2022. After a tough non-conference schedule that included trips to Virginia Tech and Tennessee, the Bulldogs posted a 14-9-1 record in Big South play to finish in third place in the league standings. The third-place finish was tied for the best ever by the Bulldog baseball program and its best since the 1998 campaign.

Furthermore, Asheville's .604 winning percentage in Big South play set a new program benchmark surpassing the previous best winning percentage of .571 set back in 2003. The Bulldogs also won their first postseason game since 2017 when they knocked off High Point, 6-3, at the Big South Baseball Tournament in late May.

The 2021 season saw Bresnahan help lead the Bulldogs to a 15-33 record overall and a 14-26 record vs. Big South foes. Asheville won five straight series wins over Big South foes and a six straight series win streak at Greenwood Field. Furthermore, Justin Honeycutt (Relief Pitcher), Dominic Freeberger (Player, Relief Pitcher), and Jacob Edwards (Starting Pitcher - twice) all garnered weekly honors from the Big South under Friedholm's tutelage. Following the season, Brandon Lankford (ABCA All-Region Second Team, All-Big South First Team), Dominic Freeberger (All-Big South First Team), and Ethan Tressler (Big South All-Academic Team) all earned honors from the conference for their work on the field and in the classroom.

The 2020 season was shortened to just 16 games for the Bulldogs. UNC Asheville, which went 5-11, had its share of highlights during the abbreviated season with Easton Jones being named Big South Player of the Week (Feb. 24) and Blake Brown being selected as the conference's Starting Pitcher of the Week (March 9). Following the season, Brown signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. He became the first Bulldog to sign with a MLB franchise since 2012 when Ryan Dull was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 32nd round of the MLB Draft.

In 2019, the Bulldogs picked up series wins over Iona, USC Upstate and Longwood. The Bulldogs swept a three game conference series for the first time since the 2012 season with their sweep of Longwood at Greenwood Field on March 29-31. The Bulldogs returned to the Big South Championships in the 2019 season for the second time in the last three seasons.

The 2019 season was a historic one as three Bulldogs worked their way into a top spot in the UNC Asheville record books. Eric Whitecavage became the Bulldogs all-time leader in pitching appearances with 102 while Kole Harris became the Bulldogs program leader in saves with 16. Austin Fahr became the first Bulldog to allow 11 runs or less in a single season when pitching at least 30 innings.

The Bulldogs received multiple honors throughout the 2019 season, including a Big South Player of the Week (Greg Gasparro, March 4), a Big South Freshman of the Week (Jacob Edwards, March 4), an All-Conference first team selection (Brandon Lankford), an All-Conference second team selection (Danny Wilson), an All-Conference Honorable Mention (Austin Fahr), an All-Academic selection (Jordan Carr) and three NCCSIA All-State second team selections (Brandon Lankford, Greg Gasparro and Austin Fahr).

During the 2018 season, the Bulldogs earned multiple honors throughout the season, including a Big South Player of the Week (Danny Wilson, April 30), two Starting Pitcher of the Weeks (Jordan Carr, Feb. 19 and Greg Gasparro, April 30), an All-Academic Team member (Jesse Juday) and a Freshman of the Week (Cody Wilson, April 9).

In his fourth year at UNC Asheville, the Bulldogs earned multiple honors throughout the 2018 season, including a Big South Player of the Week (Danny Wilson, April 30), two Starting Pitcher of the Weeks (Jordan Carr, Feb. 19 and Greg Gasparro, April 30), an All-Academic Team member (Jesse Juday) and a Freshman of the Week (Cody Wilson, April 9).

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.

Following the season, Joe Tietjen was named an honorable mention All-Big South player and earned his second Big South Conference All-Academic Team honor. Freshman Brandon Lankford was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball News, a first for the program since 2004, and earned Big South Championship All-Tournament honors for his efforts during the tourney. During the season, freshman Chris Troost was named the Big South’s first-ever Freshman of the Week and Lankford earned the honor the following week.

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 while the Bulldog outfielders finished second in the nation for outfield assists. On offense, the Bulldogs posted the most stolen bases (56) since the 2010 team swiped 58 and had the most extra-base knocks (134) since the 2008 team recorded 178.

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 Tar Heels 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.

Following the season, outfielder Joe Tietjen was named to the All-Big South Second Team as well as the Big South Conference All-Academic Team.

In his first season with the Bulldogs, the 2015 Asheville team finished with a 21-34 overall record in a season that saw several individual superlatives as well as the offense improving its production by more than 100 runs in just a year, ending the season in the Top 80 among NCAA Division I teams in runs scored. Senior Tommy Houmard was named an All-Big South Conference first-team selection, while fellow senior Hunter Bryant was a second-team selection. The pair, along with senior Nick Schavone, were each named second-team All-State performers by the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) as well.

Houmard finished the season as one of the top 25 shortstops in the country and was on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List for the entire season after being one of over 100 players on the initial preseason listing.

A former Elon standout, Bresnahan came to Asheville after spending the 2014 season at Fordham University of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Serving as the outfield and first base coach, Bresnahan helped coach the Rams to their first Atlantic 10 Championship appearance in four seasons and their first tournament win since 2007. Fordham also saw four players earn All-League honors, a number not attained since 1997. Among the honorees was First-Team All-Atlantic 10 outfielder Tim Swatek, who led the conference in batting average (.392), on-base percentage (.491), and walks (32).

Bresnahan went to Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, New York, after finishing his playing career at Elon University, where he started 85 games over his final two seasons. In 2013, he helped the Phoenix win the Southern Conference Championship and earn an automatic NCAA Tournament berth. Elon made its first regional final appearance in Charlottesville, Virginia, with Bresnahan at the heart of the team’s success. He batted .385 (5-for-13) in the regional with three RBI and two runs scored in four games and was named to the Charlottesville All-Regional Team.

Before arriving at Elon, Bresnahan was a standout at St. Rose High School in Belmar, New Jersey. A native of Freehold, N.J., he was a four-time First-Team All-Division selection and earned First-, Second- and Third-Team All-Shore Conference accolades as well as All-County honors in his four seasons. He helped lead his prep squad to four division titles.

For coaching experience, Bresnahan has coached for the World Yacht Clippers, based in Westchester County (N.Y.), in both 2012 and 2013. He also assisted with the Elon baseball summer camp in 2013.

Bresnahan graduated from Elon with a bachelor’s of science degree in Sport & Event Management with a minor in Business Administration.

Bresnahan resides in Candler, NC with his wife Melissa

Chris Bresnahan’s Career
2022-pres.	UNC Asheville	Associate Head Coach
2015-2022	UNC Asheville	Assistant Coach
2014	Fordham University	Assistant Coach/Outfield and First Base Coach
2010-13	Elon University	Player