Eric Hutting completed his third season as the Cougars Assistant Coach and second as the hitting coach while working with the catchers. Hutting was hired by Nathan Choate in June, 2023.
Last season, Hutting helped the Cougars to a 2026 Mountain West Conference Championship and the program’s first trip back to the NCAA Tournament since 2010. Washington State finished the season with a 31-28 record, the most wins since the 2010 season, including WSU’s first conference championship since 1976. WSU posted seven series wins for the first time since 2017, had six-straight series wins for the first time since 1995 and posted 18 road wins, the second-most road wins since 2000.
In his second season as the hitting coach, Hutting saw five players earn All-Mountain West Conference honors including three hitters in Max Hartman, Gavin Roy and Ryan Skjonsby along with pitchers Nick Lewis and Griffin Smith. Lewis was named the Conference Pitcher of the Year, WSU’s first conference pitcher of the year in program history, later earned All-Region honors, the Cougars first All-Region pitcher since 1993, and also won the national Gold Glove Award for a pitcher, just the second Gold Glove Award in program history (Paul Gran, 3B, 2008).
WSU rewrote the record book throughout the 2026 season; Max Hartman set the WSU single-season record with eight triples, Gavin Roy set the WSU record with a 44-game on-base streak, redshirt-freshman Matt Priest posted the second-best batting average by a Cougar freshman (.362), Trevor Smith tied for the third-most doubles by a Cougar freshman (16), WSU tallied the fifth-most doubles (129) in program history, set a program-record with 115 hit-by-pitches and tied for the national-lead with 24 triples.
In 2025, in his first season as the hitting coach Hutting saw the Cougars improved their batting average by 20 points along with a higher scoring average and on-base percentage while the defense led the Mountain West Conference in runners caught stealing. A pair of hitters earned All-Mountain West Conference honor including second-team catcher Will Cresswell who became WSU’s first all-league catcher since 2021 and was later drafted in the 18th round by the Toronto Blue Jays, the first Cougar catcher drafted since 2015.
In 2024, WSU won the Round Rock Classic title after posting wins over No. 24 Kentucky and Kansas in Texas while four players were named to the All-Tournament Team led by first baseman Joey Kramer who was named the Round Rock Classic MVP. The Cougars swept Arizona State for the second time in program history, recorded their first win at UCLA since 2014 and first win at Stanford since 2016. The Cougar defense turned the second-most double plays (50) in the Pac-12 Conference and posted a .976 fielding percentage, the third-best mark in program history. Following the season, three players earned All-Pac-12 honors.
Hutting came to WSU after working the prior two seasons with Choate at Loyola Marymount as an assistant coach, working with the catchers and assisting with the LMU hitters. Hutting helped Loyola Marymount to a 2023 West Coast Conference title this past season while the Lions captured the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Choate was named WCC Coach of the Year. LMU claimed its first outright regular season title in 25 years with a 29-24 mark including an impressive 21-6 record in conference play while a pair of Lions earned All-America honors with five players receiving All-WCC honors.
Hutting helped LMU post road wins at Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State, claim six WCC Pitcher of the Week honors, one WCC Player of the Week accolade and Khadim Diaw earned Freshman All-America honors after hitting .314 with eight home runs, 11 doubles, two triples, 33 RBI, 47 runs scored and 66 hits.
Prior to LMU, Hutting coached at Barry University during the 2021 season, at Cal State San Marcos in 2020, and at Regis University in Denver, Colo., where he was the assistant coach/pitching coach in 2019. Hutting spent two seasons as an assistant in the Orange Empire Conference. In 2018, he took over pitching coach duties for Golden West College, and in 2017, he served as the first base and hitting coach at Cypress College.
In 2017 and 2018, Hutting served as the pitching coach for the Anchorage Bucs in the Alaska Baseball League (Summer), where they led the league with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. In 44 games, they finished first (25-19) with 11 shutouts and 10 saves.
A four-year catcher at Long Beach State, Hutting graduated with a bachelor's degree in communication studies in 2016. He started 140 games behind the plate for the Dirtbags and threw out 39 percent of would-be base stealers. He helped LBSU make two NCAA Regional appearances in 2014 and 2016, was named an Academic All-Star in 2013 and 2014 and later earned his master's degree in physical education from Azusa Pacific in 2017.
A native of Rancho Santa Margarita, Hutting attended Tesoro High School and was a four-year letter winner in baseball. He earned All-South Coast League honors in 2011 and 2012 and was a member of the Academic Honor Roll in 2009 and 2010.