Brua enters his ninth season as head coach of the Hiram Terriers' baseball program in 2026-27. Brua was named the third coach in program history on July 11, 2018.
In his first year as head coach, Brua helped the Terriers improve across the board, surpassing their 2018 win total and posting higher offensive, defensive and pitching numbers while helping Vince Suso earn Second-Team All-NCAC honors.
Since then, the Hiram baseball program has exceeded 10 wins in each of the last six seasons under Brua, a feat that hadn't previously been achieved since 1994-2001.
During this past season, which marked the program's first as a member of the PAC since 1989, Hiram came one win away from securing its second conference tournament berth in program history (2005). The team won seven of its last 11 games and finished with its most conference wins (12) in a single season in program history.
In 2024, the team posted another 5-3 record in Florida and went on to sweep Oberlin during the conference portion of the schedule. The team also tallied 23 runs in a doubleheader against Wittenberg -- the eventual regular-season champions in the NCAC. In 2025, the team posted a .500 record at home and ranked in the top-half of the NCAC in most major offensive categories. In 2023, the Terriers went 5-3 on their trip to Florida, which included a pair of walk-off victories over Pitt-Bradford and Baruch. Brua's team also knocked off a 30-win Grove City College team during the regular season and came close to beating the No. 4 team in the country, Baldwin Wallace, on the road.
Eight different student-athletes have earned all-conference honors under Brua, including Jacob Kocuba in 2022, who became the first All-NCAC First Team selection by the program since 2012. Hal Walker Jr. was the team's most recent multi-time selection in 2024 and 2025. Tyler Fernandez (2025), Nicolas Chernitsky (2026) and Cody Horvath (2026) round out the bunch of recent honorees. Among the team's many program records under Brua are Walker Jr.'s all-time hits record (199) and Evan Fairbanks' home run record (20).
Prior to joining the Terriers, Brua spent two seasons as an assistant coach, and one semester as the interim head coach, at NCAA Division III Pomona-Pitzer in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. In two seasons with the Sagehens, Brua helped Pomona-Pitzer to the 2018 SCIAC Championship Tournament, posting a 12-win mark in conference play. Under Brua, five Sagehens earned all-conference honors, two earned all-region honors and one player was named an All-American, while two players went on to the next level. Tanner Nishioka, the 2017 SCIAC Player of the Year, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the ninth round of the 2017 MLB Draft, while David Gerics signed a minor-league contract with the Minnesota Twins.
Previously, Brua also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Oberlin College. Over three seasons with the Yeomen, Brua helped coach four All-NCAC selections while helping Oberlin to an NCACÂ Tournament title in 2015.
A 2011 graduate of Oberlin College, Brua was a four-year member of the Yeomen baseball program and still holds the program record for pitching appearances (65) and is tied for second in career wins (15).Â
Following his collegiate playing career, Brua went on to play two years of professional baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. Pitching between short-season Class A Vancouver and full-season Class A Lansing, Brua compiled a 12-2 record, a 3.80 ERA and six saves. Brua appeared in 56 games as a professional and helped the Vancouver Canadians win the 2011 North West League Championship.
Brua earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Oberlin College in 2011.
