Hill College head baseball coach four games away from milestone 500 wins

Although Hill College’s 2024 baseball season is right around the corner, there is one milestone within the program that will soon be taking place.

Head Coach Chris Rateike, who is entering his 30th season (18 years at Hill College) is just four wins away from his 500th career win – a staple in the coaching profession.

Rateike began his baseball coaching career at Arkansas Tech, followed by Indian Hills (Iowa), Frank Phillips College, Northeastern Junior College (Colorado), and finally Hill College.

Accolades aside, Rateike continues to be focused on taking things one season at a time.

“Our players worked extremely hard in the fall,” Rateike said. “They pretty much did what we had asked them to do."

Rateike, who always has the best interest of his players in mind, said he’s looking forward to the upcoming season which begins Jan. 31 when Hill College hosts Dallas College – Cedar Valley.

“We’re a relatively young team this year,” he added. “We lost eight of our nine starters from last season.”

Besides the incoming freshmen, Rateike also took in six transfer student athletes – some having experience at the Division I level.

"A few of our transfers were picked up via the transfer portal,” Rateike said. “The transfer portal has by far been the biggest change over the past few years.”

Among some of the players to watch this season include sophomore pitchers Luiz Lopez (Puerto Rico), Josh Prieto (Katy) and Jacob Wiggins (Katy).

Other impact players include sophomore infielder Dylan Darnell (Burleson), sophomore infielder Steven Oliva (Guatemala), sophomore pitcher Dalton Campbell (Liberty Hill) and sophomore pitcher Matthew Foley (Cedar Park).

“We’ve always been known for our pitching and hitting,” Rateike said, “and I believe our overall talent is unbelievably good this season.”

Hill College will be facing some deep teams this season, along with good coaching, in non-conference action including Galveston College, Bossier Parish Community College (Louisiana), and Alvin Community College.

Key conference matchups include No. 3 Weatherford College, which advanced to the NJCAA College World Series last year, and No. 11 McLennan Community College.

“It’s all about getting hot late in the season,” Rateike said. “It seems like we’ve been knocking on the playoff door the past few seasons.”

Hill College has not made the postseason in about three years. Last year, for example, a postseason berth came down to the final game of the season.

“A few years ago, there was an article mentioning our particular conference was ranked the toughest JUCO conference in the nation,” Rateike said. “That probably holds true today as well.”

Rateike will once again be joined by his assistant coaches Travis Spinney and Wilson Ehrhardt.

“[Spinney and Ehrhardt] have done a great job in the area of recruiting, helping our hitters and assisting with the normal day-to-day duties for our ballclub,” Rateike added.

Prior to the team’s first home game, weather permitting, the Hill College baseball complex will sport new dugouts. Additional improvements also include moving the visiting team’s bullpen to outside the field area, press box renovations, huge fans installed in the grandstand areas, insulation inside the indoor batting cages, air conditioning in the batting cages donated by former Hill College baseball player Dylan Lemmons, new top dressing of the playing surface, new padding for the backstop and two pitch clocks as required by the NJCAA.

For more information on the Hill College baseball team, please visit https://hillcollegeathletics.com.