Craig Prince

Entering his second year as the Eagles’ pitching coach in 2025 is Craig Prince, who came to Ypsilanti prior to the 2024 season after spending the 2023 campaign as an assistant coach at the University of Akron.
 
In the 2024 season, Prince led Bobby Jones to a career season, culminating in a Second Team All-MAC selection. Jones led the MAC in innings pitched (86.0) while striking out the sixth-most in the conference (79) and walking the seventh-least (24). His performances resulted in wins as the right-hander slotted fifth in the MAC in wins with five.
 
Prince also mentored Nick Chittum, who tossed two complete games on the season, and recorded Eastern’s first nine-inning shutout since 2017 when he blanked Western Michigan in a 3-0 win, March 24. For his efforts against WMU, Chittum was named MAC Pitcher of the Week, March 25.
 
As a team, Prince’s hurlers limited hits, allowing the third-least in the MAC, giving up 525.Before his stint with the Zips, Prince coached at Adrian College, again as a pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. In his inaugural season with Adrian he helped the Bulldogs reach the Division III World Series as well as sending a pair of pitchers to the next level.Prince also served primarily as a pitching coach at Bluffton University from 2018-20, where he developed throwing programs and made meal plans for the student-athletes to follow. In his time at Bluffton, Prince coached Dante D’Andrea to second team all-conference selection, along with being named a preseason honorable mention All-American.Left-handed pitcher Mo Hanley was taken in the 13th round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels, and right-handed hurler Pierce Banks, a Second Team All-American and Player of the Year in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) that season, was signed by the Minnesota Twins in 2022.Prince most recently served as the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach for the University of Akron. Prince was monumental in restoring the Zips’ program in 2023, as he played a large role in securing UA’s winningest season (21 wins) since the program resumed competition in 2020.He was married to his wife, Morgan in the fall of 2023
 
Prince helped Akron’s pitching staff shave 1.63 runs per game off its ERA from the 2022 campaign. Additionally, Sammy Tortorella led the Mid-American Conference with a pair of complete games, while he ranked 13th nationally in games started with 17.A native of Newark, Ohio, Prince is a 2018 graduate of Otterbein University, where he majored in business and was a three-time All-Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) pitcher for the baseball team. He then went on to earn a MBA in Leadership from Bluffton in 2020.Prince is a native of Newark, Ohio, and a 2014 graduate of Licking Valley High School.