The Hinds Community College Eagles came within inches of
grasping the baseball program's first national championship last
spring, but ultimately came up just short, falling to Mesa (Ariz.)
Community College, 9-7, in 11 innings in the NJCAA title game.
Hinds finished the season 40-21.
In 2012 their season came to an end but not before the Eagles
reached the championship of the Region XXIII tournament for
the second time in three seasons.
Hind’s baseball program consistently is in the top 20 year in and
year out. Teams don’t like to see them on their schedule - with
good reason – they win. Look at almost any successful baseball
program and you will see a good head coach. Look behind those
good head coaches and you will usually see a stable of
assistants who work tirelessly to make the program the best it
can be. This is the case for Hinds baseball. Two coaches who
have been leading the team for the past 10 years. Head Coach
Sam Temple and assistant coach Dan Rives. It also has to be
mentioned that over 90 players have signed four-year
scholarships in the previous nine years. That’s also very good
success.
Hinds is currently ranked #1 in NJCAA DII which is not a surprise (20-1 at the time
of the article). Last year Hinds started off the season 4-8. Since that time they
have been 56-14. Coach Rives took a moment to speak with us for this issues coach
interview.
Quick Successful Start to the Season
At 20-1, Hinds is one of only a few colleges in all collegiate baseball with that
impressive of a record. Even though they were in the NJCAA World Series
Championship game last year, did they anticipate this kind of start this year?
Rives: “Maybe not 20-1. I’d be lying if I said yes - but we knew we’d have a really
good team. The one thing we can’t give guys is experience. We can throw them as
much BP as possible, hit them as many ground balls as we can, throw in the bullpen,
condition them – do all the things we can do as coaches and put them in a
structured winning environment. The one thing we can’t give them is experience, but
they got that last year. We knew we had most of our starting line-up back and
pretty much every arm we used last year for significant innings were back. They