USD Baseball 2002

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2002 Torero Baseball

Coaehing Staff

#10 Rieb Dill 4th Sea s on

Head Coaeh CalLuth eran, 1984

USO Head Coach Rich Hill begins his fourth season in command of the Torero baseball program. Hill's Toreros finished the 2001 season with a school record 32 Division I wins and has the Toreros entering the 2002 campaign as the preseason favorites to win the West Coast Confer– ence. In 2001 , Hill became one of the youngest coaches to reach 400 wins in NCAA history. The Toreros knocked off # l6 Oklahoma, #29 UCLA and #20 Pepperdine in 2001 on their way to a #29 National Ranking at season 's end. Under the direction of Coach Hill, USO led the WCC in virtu–

ally every offensive category in 200 l and notched series wins over each conference opponent. Hill has proven he can sign the best prep talent San Diego has to offer. The twenty-nine man Torero roster contains fourteen local players including Rancho Bernardo product Tom Caple (Projected WCC Player of the Year, Baseball America), Poway 's Joey Prast (2001 WCC Freshman of the Year) and Mira Mesa grad Joe Lima (2001 WCC Honorable Mention). As a proven recruiter and manager, the 39-year-old Hill has had a record of success in each of his three head

coaching stops - first at his alma mater Cal Luthem. Hill led Cal Lutheran to a record of 194-76 (.719) over six seasons, inc luding two World Series appearances. His 1992 squad posted a 43 -6 record before falling a couple of outs shy of the NCAA Division III title, while the 1993 team finished first in the Western Region with a 32-7 record. Under Hill's guidance, the Kingsmen knocked off Division I opponents such as USC, Pepperdine, San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge. During his six seasons at Cal Lutheran, 92 percent of his players received their de– grees. Prior to his current post at USO Hi ll completed a five-year coach– ing stint at the University of San Francisco (1994- 1998). Hill guided the San Francisco Dons to a school-record 34 victories in 1998, including a school best 18 wins in the West Coast Conference as the Dons finished tied with USO for third place in the WCC. Over his final three seasons there, Hill guided USF to upper division finishes in the WCC; and posted three straight winning seasons, including two campaigns of 30 or more victories. His teams have set school records for wins in a season at every stop - Cal Lu E43), USF (34), USO (32 Div. I wins) and Chatham in Cape League (35), as well as new team marks in homeruns. In addition to his collegiate coaching positions, Hill was head coach

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for th e Chatham A's of

the Cape Cod League between 1990-93, winning the league titl e in 1992 with a franchi se record of35- l l. He has twice been recogni zed as the ABCA West Reg ion Coach of the Year ( 1992, 1993); was the 1992 Cape Cod Baseball League "Manager of the Year"; was twice named the Southern Cali– fornia Interco ll egiate Ath letic Conference Coach of the Year ( 1992, 1993); and twice was the rec ipient of the California Lutheran Alumni Career Excel lence Award ( 1993, 1994). Hill 's ass istants have gone on to successful careers in base– ball , including fi ve ...

The Hill Family : Rich & Lori with kids Robbie & Lindsey