1. Coach, USD has a solid history of baseball tradition, but how do you as a coach elevate its status, and create a national contender down the road. What does it take to get a team that year in and year out competes for conference titles and regional bids? Thanks and congrats on another great year! That is a question that we could talk about all day. To build a contender takes a lot of hard work, a commitment from the administration, a great staff and having the right players in your system. A lot of things have to go your way to win a conference championship back-to-back. To compete on a national level is a completely different animal. For us to knock off Arizona and New Mexico State in the NCAA Tournament is a tremendous feat. However, to do that consistently you need tremendous resources and things need to go your way in terms of recruiting.
2. Coach Hill, congrats on winning the WCC. Did the tough early non-conference games help prepare the team for league play?
The environment we played in with the tough schedule and tough teams prepared us for league play and especially the last couple series and the WCC Championship Series and the NCAA Regionals. I don't know if losing ever helps you in the long run or in the grand scheme of the things, I know we'll never play that tough a schedule again. It is tough to build confidence in the valley, but I think playing in the environment where there are a couple of thousand fans and heavy media exposure on you does prepare you for tournament play.
3. How has Tony Gwynn taking the State job effected recruiting in the San Diego area?
Tony's presence at the college level here in San Diego has given us more exposure, more publicity and more notoriety. I think that has helped college baseball. There is a heightened awareness of college baseball in the area. We haven't run into each other to much on the recruiting trail, I think we are on different types of guys but in the future I'm sure we will run into each other a lot more.
4. Coach, what ever happened to Tom Caple? Did he get injured this season? Thanks and good luck!
Tom Caple had arthroscopic surgery right before Thanksgiving. It took a while for him to rehab but he could have been ready for us mid-season. We did not want to push it or risk anything. We would rather have him back healthy for a whole year rather than 75 or 90 percent for half of the year.
5. Joey Prast has had an awesome season. What are his chances in pro baseball?
Joey Prast could be another Brian Giles, Marcus Giles type of player. Joey is just a great baseball player. He does more than one thing well. He can run and throw but his real talent is swinging the bat. He really was consistent all year with his bat. I was surprised that he did not get drafted. I do think professional baseball is in his future and once he gets the chance to play in the minor leagues he will put up some numbers and progress in someone's organization.
6. Josh Hansen had a solid season. How has he impacted the team?
In our last ten games when we won nine-out-of-ten which ultimately put us into the WCC Championship Series, winning the WCC Championship Series and doing as well as we did in the NCAA Regionals could all be attributed to the success of Josh Hansen. He single-handedly put us on his back and carried us through the last month of the year. We would not have won the Championship without him.
7. Who would you say has been the team MVP this season?
Without question Tony Perez. I told Tony after the season, along with Kevin Reese, that he is the best baseball player to ever come through USD. I know there have been guys who have played in the major leagues, but you talk about a guy who had an on-base percentage of over 500 and set the school record in walks, hit .385 in conference, hit in a premium spot in the batting order as the leadoff guy, played a premium position in the outfield as the centerfielder and had 13 saves which ranked him number four in the country, Tony Perez is definitely our MVP. More important than all of the numbers was the intangibles he brought to the field everyday.