Hardin-Simmons University

Vaught is in his second season as an assistant baseball coach for the Cowboys.

He was part of the ASC Coaching Staff of the Year in 2026 as the Cowboys went 26-16. The 26 wins were the most at Hardin-Simmons since 2016. The Cowboys also set the school record for batting average (.346), on-base percentage (.422) and stolen bases (81). 

Caleb Reynolds also set the school record for strikeouts in a season with 86 and went 8-2 on the mound to earn first-team All-ASC and all-region honors. 

Catcher Ridings hit .425 with six home runs and 38 RBIs and was named an All-American by D3baseball.com. Ridings was also a first-team Academic All-American. 

Reynolds, Ridings, Gavin Bruning and Paul Samaripa all earned all-region honors. 

HSU also had 13 players named All-ASC. Bruning, Benji Fielder, Jacob Hollingsworth, Hunter Molinar, Reynolds and Hunter Trojacek were named first-team All-ASC. 

The Cowboys had a 3.39 GPA and had nine players with a perfect 4.0 GPA in the spring semester. 

He came to Hardin-Simmons after spending the last three seasons as a graduate assistant at Regis University.

Vaught was also a solid player at Regis as he played in 108 career games with a .293 batting average and a .980 fielding percentage.

He is originally from Lubbock and played at Lubbock Cooper.  

He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Regis.