Davis Hires Three Assistant Coaches

HOUSTON – Houston Baseball Head Coach Will Davis announced his assistant coaches for the 2027 season as he hits the ground running to start his Cougar tenure.

Two of his assistants – Hitting Coach Scott Hatten and Pitching Coach Jace Hutchins – follow Davis west on I-10 after serving on his staff at Lamar while Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Taylor Dugas arrives in the Bayou City after three years at Southeastern Louisiana.

SCOTT HATTEN – HITTING COACH
A former Lamar student-athlete, Scott Hatten has spent 26 seasons on the Cardinals' coaching staff, serving as associate head coach, hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. After taking over recruiting duties in 2016 and earning a promotion to associate head coach in 2024, Hatten helped elevate Lamar into one of the Southland Conference's premier programs. The Cardinals captured the 2024 Southland regular-season title and followed with a historic 2026 campaign, winning the conference tournament championship and advancing to the NCAA College Station Regional.

Under Hatten's guidance, Lamar consistently fielded productive offenses while producing multiple nationally ranked recruiting classes, including four consecutive JUCO transfer classes ranked among the nation's top 14.

During Hatten's tenure, Lamar advanced to six NCAA Regionals, won four Southland Conference regular-season championships and three conference tournament titles while setting 35 school records. Hatten also coached All-Americans Jordan Foster, Michael Ambort, Sam Bumpers and others, helping produce 101 All-Southland Conference selections, 17 ABCA All-Region honorees and 16 drafted position players.

A member of Lamar's 1993 Sun Belt Conference championship team that reached the NCAA Tournament, Hatten played two seasons for the Cardinals before beginning his coaching career at New York Tech.

JACE HUTCHINS – PITCHING COACH
Hutchins joined Davis' staff ahead of the 2026 season as Lamar's pitching coach after spending time as a pitching development coach with the Chicago Cubs organization.

In his lone season with the Cardinals, Hutchins coached a staff that ranked 14^th in the nation with 7.85 hits allowed per nine innings while also sitting with six shutouts, which slotted in at 10^th nationally, and an ERA of 4.72, ranking inside the Top 50. Hutchins crafted a remarkable season from Chris Oliver, the Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year. Oliver's ERA dropped by 0.61 in his year under Hutchins' guidance while earning a .20 improvement in WHIP and striking out nearly two batters more per nine innings.

Along with time in the Cubs organization, Hutchins brings additional collegiate experience as he spent the 2025 season as the director of program and pitching development after working the 2024 season with Texas A&M as a student assistant.

Jace's ties to baseball runs deep, playing for Blinn, Texas and Texas A&M during his collegiate career, while his father, Jason, has been the Aggies' director of operations since 1998.

TAYLOR DUGAS – ASSISTANT COACH/RECRUITING COORDINATOR
Dugas joins the Cougars with 10 years of coaching experience under his belt, most recently spending three seasons with Southeastern Louisiana as the Lions' assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. During his tenure in Hammond, La., SLU won back-to-back regular season Southland Conference titles collecting 41 league wins over the last two years. He also helped coach the Lions to a 12-win improvement between his first and second year as Southeastern Louisiana notched 22 victories in 2025.

Dugas previously served as assistant coach at UT Arlington (2021-22) and Northwestern State (2017-20). At each stop, teams he has worked with have posted significant offensive numbers, with SLU posting back-to-back home run records during his tenure while the Demons led the Southland Conference with 172 extra-base hits in 2018.

Overall, Dugas has coached 21 All-Conference honorees, three All-Americans, two Freshman All-Americans and 10 MLB Draft picks.

Dugas was an All-American for Alabama, playing for the Crimson Tide from 2009-12. A two-time eighth-round draft pick, Dugas played professionally through the 2016 season, making his major league debut with the Yankees in 2015.

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– UHCougars.com –

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