Move To The 'Hill' Pays Off For Northern Illinois Commit

Spencer Hill OF / RHP / New Albany /Bridgton Academy, OH / 2020

NEW ALBANY - Spencer Hill never considered pitching when looking at his baseball future.

But the recent New Albany graduate will be playing that role in college at Northern Illinois after a recent commitment to the Mid-American Conference school.

“I didn’t have any D-I interest until later this summer,” noted the 371st-ranked 2019 in Ohio. “I pitched one inning in Atlanta, 11 pitches, and got a call from Northern Illinois after that. It took off from there.”

While plans were to attend Bridgton Academy in Maine to attain college interest, Hill looks forward to going to the college preparatory school for one year and learning more about pitching before heading off to Northern.

“The coaches there are all in,” Hill explained about a school with one of the oldest baseball programs in the country, and winners of the New England Club Baseball Association three of the past eight years. “Their job is to make us better. I feel they can teach me how to pitch, how to use all of my body and all the right grips. They can teach me how to throw and get stronger. I’m hoping to have a whole new body transformation up there.”

Up until just more than a year ago, the 6-3 185-pounder had no ambition to pitch at the next level.

“I never had a pitching coach and never really wanted to pitch,” Hill reflected. “I always wanted to bat in college. But halfway through my junior year I began to think … I’m not consistent enough to hit in college. I have to do something else if I want to play in college.”

Enter pitching, where the right-hander threw in just one game as a junior.

“I went down and started on the JVs and threw five innings giving up one run,” Hill said. “That was the only time I pitched that year.”