Sports : Former Viking pitching star Kauten now finds success as college pitching coach

Josh Kauten, Heartland Community College pitching coach.

Pitching Coach Josh Kauten of Vinton holds the trophy as he stands with Heartland pitchers.

Heartland Comm. College, where former Viking Josh Kauten is pitching coach, returns to World Series.

For the second year in a row, the Heartland Community College baseball team is in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II World Series, which begins this weekend.

The team's pitching coach is former Vinton-Shellsburg Viking pitching star Josh Kauten.

Kauten, a 2000 graduate of VS, played on the 2000 Iowa High School State Baseball Tournament team, but missed the 1998 tournament while playing in an AAU national tournament for a team coached by Gary Rima.

Coach Kauten is in his fourth year as the Hawks’ pitching coach. Since Kauten has taken over for the Hawks, his pitching staffs have compiled an impressive 3.39 ERA. In addition, Heartland has led the Mid-West Athletic Conference in ERA every year of his tenure. In those three years as pitching coach he has produced 13 division 1 pitchers, two All-Americans, and one MLB Draft.

Kauten pitched at Kirkwood Community College with Jim Van Scoy as his coach in Iowa before transferring to Illinois State where he pitched for two seasons. He earned Academic All-American honors at Kirkwood, while also earning Male Scholar Athlete of the Year at Illinois State in 2003. Following his college career, the Detroit Tigers selected Kauten 11th round (313th overall) in the 2004 Major League Amateur Draft. After spending half a season in Short Season A, Kauten spent the next two seasons split between the West Michigan White Caps (Tigers A affiliates) and the Lakeland Tigers (Tigers High A affiliates). In the second half of the 2005 season, Kauten went 4-2 with a 2.84 era for Lakeland. He then spent two years in Independent Ball with the Lincoln Salt Dogs and El Paso Diablos. He finished his pro career with a 3.50 ERA.

Kauten also serves as Heartland Community College's Fitness and Recreation Center's Coordinator, and resides in Normal with his wife Emily.

See a story about the team HERE.