Tim Byrnes completed his 19th year as the head baseball coach at Hamilton College in 2025.
Byrnes guided the Continentals to a program-record 21 wins and their first NESCAC postseason appearance during the 2022 season. Byrnes’ squad set team season records in wins, runs, hits, runs batted in, doubles, total bases and stolen bases.
The Continentals finished first in the NESCAC in team fielding percentage, second in earned run average, and third in batting average. They bested Trinity in the NESCAC Championship quarterfinal series and won elimination games against Amherst and Colby on the second day of championship weekend to advance to the NESCAC Championship finals for the first time in program history.
Three players from the 2022 team were named to the All-NESCAC Team as well as the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Region Team. Brady Slinger ’22 and Phil Bernstein ’23 were also selected to the D3baseball.com All-Region Team. Slinger was subsequently named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team, becoming just the second player in program history to earn Academic All-America honors.
Hamilton compiled an 18-15 record under Byrnes leadership in 2023 and appeared in a NESCAC Championship quarterfinal series. Bernstein received All-NESCAC honors for the third consecutive season, earning a spot on the first team in 2023 after being named to the second team in 2021 and 2022. Jackson Sattinger ’24 was selected to the 2023 All-NESCAC Second Team. Both Bernstein and Sattinger collected all-region accolades as well.
On April 2, 2023, Byrnes picked up his 200th win at the helm of the Hamilton baseball program during the opening contest of a doubleheader sweep against Amherst.
The Continentals qualified for the NESCAC postseason for the third consecutive season in 2024. Sattinger and Jack Eshleman ’25 were named to the 2024 All-NESCAC First Team, as well as the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Team and the D3baseball.com All-Region Team. Byrnes’ squad set a new program record with 25 home runs. Sattinger and Michael Tallarida ’26 provided seven home runs each, tying the program’s individual season record.
Following the 2024 campaign, Eshleman signed a professional contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the first Hamilton baseball player to sign a contract with a Major League Baseball organization in more than 100 years. In three seasons with the Continentals, Eshleman ended up second on the program’s all-time list with 162 strikeouts in 122.2 innings pitched.
16 of Byrnes' players have received a total of 22 all-conference honors and seven have made the D3baseball.com All-Region Team. He has directed Hamilton baseball to 236 wins.
The Continentals have earned the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award in each of the last three seasons. The award recognizes teams that achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale during the academic year.
In 2018 Byrnes' closer made the American Baseball Coaches Association All-Region team after tying a team record for saves in a season. Two players were selected for the All-NESCAC team and one was voted the program's first conference rookie of the year. One of the Continentals' 17 wins was against nationally ranked top-10 SUNY Cortland in late April. Byrnes' squad led the NESCAC in triples and they set a program mark by drawing 176 walks. Eight student-athletes earned a spot on the NESCAC Spring All-Academic Team.
Two Continentals collected 2017 NESCAC All-Conference honors and one made the 2017 D3baseball.com All-New England Region Team. In 2016 Hamilton set team records for batting average and on-base percentage and tied the mark for runs batted in for a season. One of his players made the NESCAC All-Conference Team, the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England All-Star Team and the D3baseball.com All-New England Region Team. Another tied for the conference lead in home runs.
Byrnes coached Joe Jensen '15 to his second consecutive NESCAC All-Conference Team selection in 2015. Jensen led the conference with 24 stolen bases and went on to sign a contract with a professional independent league team. He is believed to be the first player in Hamilton baseball history to play in a minor league game.
Byrnes' players hold program career records for batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits, doubles, triples, homers, runs batted in, total bases, stolen bases, ERA, strikeouts and innings pitched. A total of 15 individual and 15 team single-season records have been set under his leadership.
Byrnes was the head coach at Morrisville State College in 2005 and 2006. One Morrisville player was selected a National Junior College Association of America (NJCAA) Division III All-American in 2006. The all-America award was the first in program history. Byrnes' players earned two NJCAA academic all-America and two academic all-region honors.
He guided Morrisville to 19 wins in 2006 after posting 10 victories in his first year as head coach
Byrnes was an outfielder on the St. Lawrence University varsity baseball team. He earned a degree in sports and leisure studies with a minor in education. Byrnes is from Cazenovia, N.Y.
