Danny Acosta served as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore's baseball coach from August 2023 until May 2026.
Acosta came to UMES with 30 years of experience in coaching, scouting, and skill development. He spent the previous three years as head coach at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville, Iowa.
In the early 1990s, Acosta had coaching stints in Florida and Puerto Rico before spending time with Major League Baseball teams as a scout and pitching coach. From 1995 to 1998, Acosta served as a scout with the Texas Rangers followed by one season as a scout for the Seattle Mariners. He went on to serve as a pitching coach for Santurce Cangrejeros, a professional team based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He began coaching in the college ranks as an assistant at Iowa Lakes from 2006 to 2010. He returned to MLB as an associate scout for the San Francisco Giants for two seasons before serving as a hitting coach for the Daytona Cubs, then a minor-league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Acosta accepted the position of associate head baseball coach at Piedmont International University in 2017 and served three seasons at PIU before returning to Iowa Lakes as their head coach.
In his third year as head coach, 2023 was a success for Acosta's Iowa Lakes Lakers both on and off the field as two student-athletes were named to the All-Region team. Additionally, eight student-athletes were named to the All-Region Academic team for their efforts in the classroom – a trend Acosta plans to continue with the Hawks.
Acosta took over a Hawks baseball program that was moving into their second season as an associate member of the Northeast Conference. The previous season, UMES earned a bid into the conference tournament following an 18-35 regular season.
