Nate Burns enters his fourth season as head coach in 2027 with the baseball program at the University of the South and his seventh year overall with the program.

He was promoted to head coach in June 2023, becoming the 29th head coach for a program that is the oldest varsity sport at the University of the South, dating back to 1875.
 
Burns’ first season as head coach ended with a 16-25 record, with the Tigers sweeping an opening-round series in the SAA Tournament at second-seeded Berry College despite a pitching staff decimated by injuries throughout the year. Hunter Herndon earned First Team All-SAA honors while Matt Munn, Charlie Teel and Will Yarbro were voted to the Second Team and Jack Roode garnered Honorable Mention accolades.

In 2025 the Tigers finished 20-20 overall, tying for the second-most wins in program history. Munn garnered First Team All-SAA honors, Will Jennewein was named Rookie of the Year while Teel and Zach Fortman were voted to the Second Team while Aidan Petrocco and Blake Pou earned Honorable Mention recognition.

Sewanee tied the school-record for victories with a 21-19-1 overall mark in 2026, winning three conference series and tying for fourth in the league standings. Petrocco, Fortman and Taj Donald garnered First Team All-SAA accolades, Teel was named for the Second Team and five other players received Honorable Mention recognition for the Tigers. In addition Fortman and Teel earned All-Region honors.

Burns witnessed the program’s second no-hitter since 2011 (according to acquired records) in his first home game as an assistant coach in 2021. Jake Pendergraft and Logan Martin combined for the no-hitter against Covenant in a 2-0 victory on March 19  in the midst of a global pandemic.
 
He served as the pitching coach at Swarthmore College for the 2019 and 2020 seasons prior to his time at Sewanee. He was responsible for recruiting efforts, developed a year-round throwing program for pitchers and gathered data for team scouting reports while with the Garnet.
 
During the 2019 season, he followed the analytics that professionals were using on the mound, using an opener for games instead of a traditional starter. The program saw the earned-run-average fall from 4.53 in 32 games to 1.80 in the team's final eight games that year. Continuing that setup in the shortened 2020 season, in eight games, the pitching staff recorded a 1.90 ERA, allowing seven extra-base hits in 413 at-bats.
 
Burns also coached at Elizabethtown College before his stint at Swarthmore.
 
He played collegiately at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, Pa., pitching in 44 career games with 34 starts. He won 13 games with a 5.38 ERA in 189 innings pitched, posting 134 strikeouts.
 
During his senior year in 2017, he earned Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year honors and was voted First Team All-Conference. In 11 starts, he recorded a 3.30 ERA, winning six decisions and tossing four complete games. Opposing hitters batted .230 against him that season, with the righthander allowing 21 earned runs in 57.1 innings. He is responsible for the first no-hitter in the program's history with a complete-game shutout performance on March 30, 2015, versus Valley Forge, fanning 13 batters.
 
Away from the college game, he has served as a baseball coach and instructor at the Pro5 Baseball Academy in North Carolina and BC Athletics in Knoxville, Tenn. Off the diamond, Burns has served our country in the Army National Guard as a combat engineer. 
 
Burns graduated from Lancaster Bible College with two bachelor’s degrees, one in Sports Management and the other in Biblical Studies in 2018. He married the former Sadie Wilson during Fall 2025.

Burns' Coaching Career

Updated 6/17/2026