Hill College baseball program filled with youth, talent

Despite the recent below-freezing temperatures, the Hill College Baseball Team is fewer than 10 days away from its 2025 season opener.

Hill College Head Baseball Coach Chris Rateike, who enters his 19th season, said he’s looking forward to the upcoming season, as his team is filled with a load of freshman talent.

“I’m excited to see what these young and energetic guys can do,” Rateike said. “Our hopes are to make it to postseason – and then we’ll go from there.”

Hill College hasn’t made the playoffs in four years. However, in two of the past three years, it came down to the final games of the season to determine a playoff berth.

Rateike said one of the important factors in having a successful season is that a team must win at home...and the Rebels have traditionally been a good home team, which is important as each conference opponent plays back-to-back series with each other.

“All of the conference games are important,” he added. “Usually, if you’re going to win the conference, you need to win at home and sweep on the road.”

This year’s baseball program will be led by sophomore pitchers Jacob Hungerford (Converse, Louisiana) and Jackson Low (Richmond). Sophomore right-handed pitcher Jace Newkirk (Montgomery) is also expected to round out the list of the veteran pitching staff.

Although the 2025 preseason baseball poll has not been released, Rateike expects McLennan Community College and Weatherford College to once again be the teams to beat in conference. The top four teams at the end of the season will advance to postseason play.

There have been many improvements to the Hill College baseball complex over the past several years, but the only change this season is the addition of a new visitor’s bullpen which has been moved outside of the playing area. Rateike said he also hopes one day the home side would have some type of matching bullpen in the near future.

Rateike will once again be joined by assistant coach Wilson Ehrhardt, and they both welcome new assistant coach Andrew Waters to the program.

Hill College will host Dallas College Cedar Valley in the season opener Jan. 31 beginning at 1 p.m. in Hillsboro. The first conference series will be March 5 against Cisco College.

2025 Hill College Baseball Roster
1 Samuel York, F, SS (El Dorado, Arkansas)
2 Tre Aikens, F, OF (Sugar Land)
3 Dylan Martinez, SO, SS (Forney)
4 Lane Walton, F, SS (Sugar Land)
5 Tanner Cooper, F, C (Klein)
6 Tyler Simpson, F, P (Kemah)
7 Hayden Boyd, F, 2B/SS (Pearland)
8 MJ Espinoza, F, P (San Antonio)
9 Bryce Deason, F, OF (Longville, Louisiana)
10 Dalton Hoffart, F, P/INF (Tomball)
11 Max Fritsch, F, P (Littleton, Colorado)
12 Jacob Santich, F, C (Darch, WA, Australia)
14 Josh Leigh, SO, C (Keller)
15 Micah Early, SO, P (Baytown)
16 Aiden Hatton, SO, 3B (Burleson)
17 Viggo Lopez, SO, OF (Pharr-San Juan)
18 Layden Sepulvado, F, OF (Longville, Louisiana)
19 Mario Rodriguez, F, P (Brownsville)
20 Garrett Smith, SO, 1B (Katy)
22 Nick Dunch, F, OF (Round Rock)
23 Austin Lindsey, F, P (Lufkin)
24 Jace Newkirk, SO, P (Montgomery)
25 Carson Burks, F, P (Buna)
26 James Vanderpool, F, 1B (Elgin, Oklahoma)
27 Jackson Low, SO, P (Richmond)
28 Arvey Huerta, F, P (Katy)
29 Peyton Cook, F, P (Pearland)
30 Izhar Mauricio F, OF (Eale Pass)
31 Matvey Yudaev, F, P (Moscow, Russia)
32 Levi Rozenblum, F, OF (Richardson)
33 Jacob Hungerford, SO, P (Converse, Louisiana)
34 Landon Karrh, F, P (Frisco)
35 Dean Poenitzsch, F, 1B (El Campo)
36 Thomas Carroll, F, P (Cypress)
37 Ray Vasquez, F, P (Friendswood)
40 Jake Schlabach, F, P (Keller)
41 Charles Jarrell, F, P (Pearland)
42 Jeshuah Naut, F, P (Waxahachie)
43 Chase Randell, F, P (Bullard)
44 Jackson Reifel, F, P (Sugar Land)
Head Coach: Chris Rateike
Assistant Coaches: Wilson Ehrhardt and Andrew Waters