- State Champions 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999; runner-up 1998; semi-finalist 2003
- St. Albans Grand Slam Invitational Tournament Champions 1997
- Choate Invitational Baseball Tournament Champions 1998; runner-up 1999
- Riverdale May Classic Invitational Tournament Champions 2003; runner-up 1999
Hill games are regularly scouted by representatives from the Phillies, Braves, Orioles, Expos, Mets, and Yankees. The Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners also have observed us. Former Phillies owner "Ruly" Carpenter, ex-Dodgers Lew Watts and Tommy Lasorda, ex-Reds pitcher Ed Maier, Braves scout Joe Caputo, Devil Rays scout Shawn Pender, Padres scout Wilmer Reed, Reds scout Eddie Kolo, Phillies scout Joe Romano, and Joe McGillen of the Major League Scouting Bureau have spoken favorably of Hill baseball. Our program achieved national recognition in "Collegiate Baseball" in 1988 and in "All-Stater Sports" in 1999 and has seen three players among the top prep players honored by the former publication. Ex-Phillies outfielder, major league coach, and minor league manager Howie Bedell (Colorado Rockies), formerly an assistant coach in our program, enthusiastically endorses The Hill.
Hill alumni have, in recent years, played at Duke, Bucknell, Yale, Trinity, Kenyon, South Carolina, Williams, Virginia Tech, Georgetown (one current player), Navy, Army, Richmond, Stetson, Jacksonville, Penn, Villanova, Gettysburg (one current player), Rollins, Hamilton, George Washington, Elizabethtown, Franklin & Marshall, Ithaca, and Shippensburg. Four former Hill players have been coaching college baseball at the Division I level. Several Hill players have been drafted here by major league clubs. Three of those players eventually signed professional contracts after graduation from college.
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Our baseball facilities --including a newly conditioned playing surface, fully enclosed concrete dugouts, and an electronic scoreboard -- are considered among the finest in the area. The field, along with our multiple practice screens and adjacent batting cage, is maintained by an experienced grounds crew whose efforts have perennially won praise from umpires, pro scouts, opposing coaches, and visiting college coaches.
Our basic approach to the game emphasizes sound hitting techniques. We feature "situational" batting practice against both machine and "live" pitching as well as numerous batting tee drills. We also use hand drills with weights and "tracking" drills to improve the ability to pick up a pitch and "read" it as soon as possible. This approach has produced substantial results. In 13 of the last 16 years Hill teams have averaged .300 or better at the plate -- including the bench.
Defensively we stress drills that replicate, as realistically as possible, actual game situations. Our relatively small squad of 16 players enables us to provide adequate attention to the development of each individual. Our pitching coach, a former college pitcher, is a specialist in that area and emphasizes not only sound mechanics but also techniques for "setting up" hitters and for reacting properly to a batted ball.
In addition to our regular 20-game season, which includes action in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) and several tournaments, we conduct an "inner season" featuring intra-squad "Blue-Gray" games to maintain competitiveness, sportsmanship, and the enhancement of skills under game conditions. We also compete, at the end of our regular season, in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Baseball Tournament.
The coaching staff hopes that this brief sketch provides a useful glimpse of Hill baseball. We believe that our program has been successfully integrated into an academic community which places proper emphasis upon the sound scholarship required for superior college preparation.
For more information about Hill baseball, please contact Head Coach Jim Finn at jfinn@thehill.org.