Sports

Hill to play ball in MN

By Tyler Ohmann

01/21/2014

Bottineau High School senior Andrew Hill made his decision early, he is going to play baseball at the next level.

The Braves’ three sport athlete (football, hockey and baseball) will be heading east to Minnesota next fall to lace up on the diamond for Minnesota State Community and Technical College-Fergus Falls.

A big reason that Hill chose the Spartans, is the size of the community.

“It’s not that big of a school, which is nice, because I was looking at going to bigger school right away, but coming from a small high school it would be a big difference,” Hill said.

Another big influence to his decision would be the ability to get a chance to be on the field right away.

“That’s basically why I chose the junior college path was to get started right away, get some playing time right away,” Hill said. “Then whichever school I do decide to go to after, I’ll be ready to play, and on the level with the guys who have been there two years.”

Hill, who plans on playing outfield and middle infield for the Spartans is really excited about the way the program is run.

“I like the way they run their program there,” Hill said. “They have nice facilities, a good coaching staff and players seem to like it there.”

Fergus Falls is a part of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference and the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Region XIII. Last season they finished in third place in the region tournament.

Recently one of their sophomores from last year’s squad signed with Division II Minnesota State-Mankato.

“The competition that they play against, and he (the coach) has good relationships with a lot of bigger, four-year schools,” Hill said. “The thing that really stood out was the community work that the team puts in, they really get along well with the community and the community supports them, even before the season starts.”

Hill, who starred for BHS since he was a freshman, and went to state three times as a catcher and infielder, is glad that he made the decision before the snow melted off the field.

“It feels like a weight got lifted off my back, being able to get decided before the season started,” Hill said. “Not having all that pressure is going to be nice.”