Sam Tinkham enters his sixth season as recruiting coordinator with the baseball team at Holy Cross and second as an associate head coach in 2026.
The majority of Tinkham's work is with the pitching staff. During his time at Holy Cross he has developed 2025 MLB Draft Pick and 2025 Patriot League Tournament MVP Danny Macchiarola as well as 2025 Patriot League Pitcher of the Year, Jaden Wywoda.
During 2025, Tinkaham's staff established the new program record in strikeouts (428). After winning the Patriot League Championship, Macchiarola was drafted in the eighth round as the 242nd overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners. Macchiarola signed a professional contract with the Mariners and finished his Crusader career ranking third all-time in strikeouts (196), tied for sixth in starts (34) and seventh in innings pitched (207.2).
Under Thinkham's tutelage Macchiarola authored one of the best seasons by a starter in modern Holy Cross baseball history in 2025. He made 16 starts, posting a 9-5 record with a 3.27 ERA, and 1.16 WHIP across 93.2 innings pitched. He also recorded 92 strikeouts to 28 walks, holding opponents to a. 228 batting average against in 2025. Jaden Wywoda, the 2025 Patriot League Pitcher of the Year also had an amazing season. He started 16 games for Holy Cross, and tied for first in the Patriot League in wins (9), ranked second in innings pitched (84.1), tied for second in strikeouts (79), third in ERA (3.63) and fourth in batting average against (.239). He posted a 1.23 WHIP in his outings.
In 2023 as recruiting coordinator, his recruiting class was named one of 11 under the radar recruiting classes by Baseball America. As pitching coach, he has coached a trio of All-Patriot League honorees: reliever Luke Fox (2022), starter Alex Bryant (2024) and starter Danny Macchiarola (2024).
Tinkham joined the Crusaders in 2021 after two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach for Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he worked with the pitching staff and first basemen.
During the 2020 season, he helped lead the Terriers to a 14-3 overall record before the campaign was cut short. The Terriers posted a 3.12 ERA, which ranked fourth in the Southern Conference, and the team’s 152 strikeouts were second in the league.
In the 2019 season, Wofford won 36 games, tied for the second-most in school history, while also posting a 14-9 record in the Southern Conference to finish second overall, the highest finish in school history. In the Southern Conference Tournament, Wofford reached the championship series for the second time in school history before falling to Mercer. The pitching staff posted an ERA of 4.27, which ranked fourth in the SoCon and was the lowest for the Terriers since 1983; the 492 strikeouts for the staff were the third-most in school history. Additionally, Wofford’s staff finished third among all Division I teams in walks per nine innings (2.89), 12th in strikeout to walk ratio (2.83) and second in team strike percentage in 2019.
Tinkham also helped implement a baserunning system that helped Wofford finish third in the nation in stolen bases in 2019 (155) and first in the shortened 2020 season (47).
During the 2018 season, Tinkham was the director of baseball operations at Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to running the day-to-day operations of the program, he supervised the collection and analysis of advanced statistics, and helped organize and run both team and prospect camps.
Tinkham spent the 2017 season as the pitching coach at his alma mater, Grinnell College, where he was responsible for developing, evaluating and instructing the pitching staff. He created preseason and in-season throwing programs to promote development and recovery. He coached five All-Conference selections, including two pitchers, and one All-Region selection.
He also spent a summer as the pitching coach at Baseball U CT, providing individual pitching instruction for all ages and teams during practices.
A native of Newington, Connecticut, Tinkham graduated from Grinnell College in 2016 with a degree in history. While at Grinnell, he was a standout on the baseball team, earning All-Conference honors twice and serving as a team captain. In 2014, he was named the Midwest Conference Pitcher of the Year and ABCA/Rawlings All-Region third team. He ranks fifth in program history in career wins and second in career strikeouts.
Tinkham also earned a Master’s degree in sport leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018.
