Prep Baseball Report

Preseason Team Preview: Indian Hills



New Jersey Staff

High School: Indian Hills
Head Coach:
George Hill (17th Season)
2015 Record:
13-12

Indian Hills Team Preview


Coach George Hill, in his 17th season at the helm, will lead a Braves team that has a big mix of returners, from sophomores to seniors. Offensively the Braves will look to seniors 2B Rob Greco (Presbyterian) & OF Ryan Janiga, junior C Matt Paiotti, sophomore P/INF Alex Havlicek, junior SS Mike Casleggio.  Havlicek (6-foot-4, 200) saw time both on the mound and in the field last year as a freshman, and after a stellar summer on the showcase circuit, committed to Virginia Tech.  One of the top arms in the 2018 class, Havlicek will have to make a big jump for the Braves if they are to make any noise at the county and state levels. Also on the bump, Coach Hill’s staff will be led by senior Nick Viducic and junior Kyle Sears. The Braves certainly have a plethora of two-way players, which is a good sign especially going into the County and State Tournaments. However, the Braves biggest losses this year to graduation are P/UT Serafino Brito (Rutgers) and Brett Wilkes (Salve Regina), and they will be very hard to replace. Brito is widely considered one of, if not, the best players to come out of Indian Hills, as was a dominant force on the mound and at the plate in his four years in Oakland before moving on to Rutgers.  It will be interesting to see what kind of tricks Coach Hill has up his sleeve for this year. Look for Indian Hills to be a scrappy bunch of baseball players, who will undoubtedly wear an opposing pitching staff down.

Qualifying for the Bergen County Tournament and North 1 Group 3 State Tournaments are within reach with this group, and with the veteran, Coach Hill, at the helm, you can never count them out.  His teams are well known around the county to be very pesky, even with a slew of unproven players early on. Look for them to be a tough out in the Big North this year.


Head Coach’s Bio

+George Hill (17th Season)

Team’s Biggest Matchups in 2016:

+Cross-town rival Ramapo

+Northern Highlands

+Ridgewood

+Paramus

Biggest Rival:

 

 

+Ramapo

 

Fun Facts about Coaches/Team:

+All of Coach Hill’s assistants have had the pleasure of playing under him during his tenure at Indian Hills

Notable Baseball Alumni:

+Serafino Brito (Rutgers)

+Austin Solecitto (Rice)

+Al Sica (Wagner)

+17 Players to play Division 1 baseball in the past 10 years

+2 of those played professionally (Justin Van Grouw, Andrew Randolph)