Bio

Coach Bauth enters his 34th season as the Head Coach for the Kats and for the last quarter century he has developed and guided the Erie Community College baseball program into a regional and national power in NJCAA Baseball. Consistently ranked in the NJCAA Division 3 poll, the Erie Kats have posted 29 winning seasons and have advanced to the Region 3 championship game ten times. With the Kats win on March 1, 2025, Coach Bauth became the winningest NJCAA Division 3 coach of all time with an astounding 1128 career wins and counting, all of which have come with the Kats. He is a three-time ABCA Coach of the Year (1998, 2000 and 2003), a four time NJCAA District Coach of the Year (1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005) and four-time Region 3 Coach of the Year (2005, 2006, 2011, and 2022). He also received the Louisville Slugger Award for Coaching Excellence in 1998, 2003 and 2011. 

Coach Bauth was inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019 and the Western New York Hall of Fame in 2021. Under coach Bauth, Erie baseball has won the competitive Western New York Athletic Conference five times since 2003 and advanced to the NJCAA Division 3 Baseball World Series in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2011. An astounding 87 players have earned All-Region recognition under Coach Bauth’s tutelage, which includes 18 student-athletes that have been named NJCAA Division 3 All-Americans. Ten of Bauth’s players have gone on to play professional baseball, including 2016 Alumni Shawn Dubin who is part of the Houston Astros pitching staff. 

Coach Bauth is a professor in the college’s Health, Wellness and Physical Education Department and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Canisius College. He is an active member of the American Baseball Coaches Association and is the President of the NJCAA Coaches Association. He lives in Lancaster with his wife, Suzanne. They have two children. Their son Brett is a practicing Attorney in NYC and their daughter Jordan is a professional figure skater onboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. 

*ABCA Coach of the Year 1998, 2000 and 2003 

*NJCAA District Coach of the Year 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 

*NJCAA Region III Coach of the Year 2005, 2006, 2011, 2022 

*Louisville Slugger Award for Coaching Excellence 1998, 2003, 2011 

*NJCAA Executive Baseball Committee 

*NJCAA Coaches Association- President 

*NJCAA All Stars Assistant Coach 1997 

*General Manager of Team USA 2018 

*NJCAA Hall of Fame 2019 

*WNY Hall of Fame 2021 

*Erie Community College President’s Award for Mentoring