Christian Bourne enters his third season as an assistant coach with the Highlanders, a position he took over in August 2022. He serves as the program’s pitching coach.
Bourne made his way to the New River Valley by way of Georgia Southern where he served as the Director of Baseball Operations and Player Development for one year under head coach Rodney Hennon.
Over the course of a 41-20 season, that resulted in the hosting of a NCAA Regional, Bourne oversaw all aspects of Georgia Southern player development, using technology and innovation to design and research player development models to assist the coaching staff. He also directed the day-to-day operations of the baseball program and oversaw the overall management of the team’s budget and travel as well as involvement with Eagle Baseball Camps.
Prior to joining the Eagles, Bourne was with his alma mater of James Madison University as the Director of Pitching development alongside current Radford head coach Alex Guerra. The Dukes finished the 2021 season with three student-athletes earning All-CAA post season honors. Recent 2022 MLB first round draft pick Chase DeLauter (16th overall to the Cleveland Guardians) earned First Team and All-Rookie Team nods while fellow pitcher Liam Grubbs was an All-Second Team selection.
Bourne joined the coaching ranks following a four-year career at James Madison, where he made 55 appearances for the purple and gold.
Following his playing career at JMU, Bourne returned to Nashville, Tennessee to coach at Mount Juliet High School. Before the COVID-19 pandemic ended their season, Bourne guided an undefeated Mount Juliet staff to a team ERA of just 2.50. His staff also posted a no-hitter just three games into the campaign. He helped coach nine student-athletes that committed or signed to play at the collegiate level.
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