2022 Hilltoppers Baseball
| Team | Record | Win % | Home | Away | RF | RA | Last 10 | Streak |
 Fort Plain Hilltoppers | 9-7 | .563 | 4-2 | 5-5 | 121 | 100 | 6-4 | Won 1 |
Annual Fort Plain
Baseball Camp
2021 Annual Hilltopper Camp - Directed by Coach Craig Phillips - Close to 100 campers...
Section 2 Baseball Committee members present
Coach Phillips with an Honor for his career total
of 800th. Hilltoppers earned a
1 seed for the Class C Bracket
Hilltoppers' out-scored by the Warriors
of Stillwater 7-2... Knock out of Sectionals...
Fort Plain, 12-1, and the top seed in the Class C Bracket did not meet the level which they needed to survive and advance. Stillwater, 8-9, moves on to the quarterfinals where they will face the winner of Lake George or Hadley-Luzerne.
Congratulations Stillwater...
The 2021 MODIFED TEAM, Coached by Rob Jenks!
Good Job this season Boys!
Hilltoppers Baseball 2021
#800
Thank You to all the support of the program from the parents with cake & pizza to our Montgomery County Sheriff, the Fort Plain Fireman, the bus driver, the former players that filled the stage and all the people that came out to honor the progam...
Hilltoppers' Stay Undefeated in a Classic vs. Cougars...
More Later...
Hilltoppers go extra to out score Gloversville in 10 innings...
In a non-league contest under the lights vs. Class A, Gloversville Huskies neither team wanted to go home no matter how hard they tried. On a chilly night Fort Plain, in the end, would out race Gloversville with base running and the starting pitcher returning to the mound at the end of the game.
Austin VanGorder started off with a walk, Troy Butler followed with a double to right field just before Evan Crouse, starting pitcher, grounded into a 6-3 RBI for VanGorder to take a 1-0 lead. Gloversville took a 2-1 after the second inning when Alex Payne reached base on a single. Cook then reached base with an error back at the pitcher. Dejmaga would single for the home team before Heimer belted a 2 RBI single into right field. Heimer had a great night defensively in the field as well.
Matt Travis would lead the third off with a walk before Butler drew a walk when Crouse followed with a single to left field. Giffin McGinnis drove in the second run with a RBI groundout. Josh Wilder followed up with a RBI single into left field to make the score 4-2 Hilltoppers’. Stephen Gray picked up a single in the 4th inning before Gloversville came to bat.
All with 2 outs, Mabie reached base on a hit-by-pitch as the next batter drew a walk and the bases became loaded when Robare reached on a single. The next batter up, Dillenback, would send a deep fly ball to left-center field that was in and out of the left fielder’s glove as two runs would score. After the 4th inning it was Gloversville 5, Fort Plain 4.
Hilltoppers showed some defense of their own on the night, in the 5th inning Matt Travis raced in on a well hit ball to centerfield and as he said “I lost the ball in the lights” he came in from no-where to make a great diving catch. For the second out of the inning, shortstop Wilder made a heck of an “over-the-shoulder-basket-catch.” Second baseman Gray made plays to save the night as well. Over the night VanGorder came on to relieve Crouse and Butler made a 3 inning appearance as well as he struck-out 8 of the 11 batters he faced. Crouse would re-enter the game in the 9th inning.
To tie the game at 5 in the 6th inning, Anthony Paradiso reached on a walk, Butler would eventually tie the game with a RBI single to right-center field, scoring Paradiso.
The Hilltoppers’ would leave 16 runners on bases over the course of the 10 inning ball game. With Travis and VanGorder earning walks in the 10th, Butler hit a sharp shot to the shortstop as Travis raced to third the shortstop went to gun him out at third. The ball got by the third baseman and Travis gathering himself would race home to break the 5-5 tie ball game. After two strikeouts, Manley Baker earned a walk and an RBI for a 7-5 Hilltoppers’ lead going to the bottom of the 10th inning.
Evan Crouse started the game on the mound, played the field for 5 innings, and would come back to the mound for the last two innings. Wearing #99 and not #10 he got the first batter to strikeout and when Stephen Gray caught a pop-up and assisted on the third out of the inning Fort Plain Hilltoppers' and Crouse picked up victories over a tough opponent in the Huskies of Gloversville.
Hilltoppers’ will get back to WAC play on Tuesday when they make the short trip to the east to face the Cougars of Canajoharie, game time is at 4:30pm
After win #799 for Coach Phillips' Program over the Bulldogs of Berne-Knox-Westerlo will the Hilltoppers' bring home #800 when they travel to the Panthers of Mayfield....
Pitcher, Austin VanGorder would keep BKW's bats silent until Quinn Toomey broke a no-hitter up in the 6th inning, with an RBI single. VanGorder finished with no earned-runs, 2 walks and 10 Ks on the evening. Evan Crouse closed the game out with 3 strikeouts himself in the 7th inning.
Troy Butler, Crouse, Matt Travis and Stephen Gray all had two hits each. Butler cranked out a triple to deep right field hitting the fence and attempted to stretch it out for a homerun, but was thrown out at the plate. Crouse also had a RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch. Travis had a single and a double while he drove in two runs on the night. Gray batting in the 9 hole, almost like the lead-off hitter in some innings, picked up a single and a double earning RBIs on each at bat. VanGorder, Josh Wilder, Griffin McGinnis all added hits to the total hi count on the night.
This victory was Coach's 799th in his 4 plus decades of coaching... Hilltoppers' travel to Mayfield for a 4:30pm first pitch in a WAC league contest. This will be the first official attempt going for his 800th win. No other public high school Coach in New York State can say his program has earned 800 wins. WOW
1981, after Coach's 100th Win the Hilltoppers' had pizza and looks like some Zebra Cakes...? Old-School Zebra Cakes....⚾️⚾️⚾️
Hanging a banner with Coach... Glad no one fell ...
Hilltoppers' Improve to 4-0... Fort Plain Erupts for 12 runs in the 2nd inning...
Manley Baker would pick up the pitching victory to earn #798 for Coach in his career. After Baker led off the game with a walk, he would score on a Troy Butler RBI single, 1-0 after one inning of play. Kevin Fuller and William Churchill led the attack for the Knights, Fuller would pick up two singles as Churchill would supply the two runs scored and a double.
Troy Butler standing in third after his 2RBI triple in the second inning in Middleburgh.
Butler and Austin VanGorder provided the 1... 2... punch as VanGorder drove in 2 runs with a single. Butler followed with a 2RBI triple as he stood on 3rd base. Later in the inning Griffin McGinnis would double to right field producing 2 mor3 RBIs. VanGorder on his second time at bat, knocked in two more runs with a double to left-centerfield. Butler followed with another RBI single and Evan Crouse singled but would not score.
Stephen Gray and Josh Wilder would help close the game out for Baker's first win from the mound. Gray scored 3 times while he added two singles. Baker would score 3 times as well and Wilder and Matt Travis would earn RBIs each to round out the Hilltoppers' offensive results.
Hilltoppers' host Berne-Knox-Westerlo Monday @ 4:30pm opening pitch. Tuesday they travel to the Panthers of Mayfield, 4:30pm.
Please understand that until WE are told differently, our WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE, Section 2 and NYSPHSAA guidelines require fans to enter with an issued pass and masks worn. We need to adhere to these guidelines until we are told differently! COVID-19 caused many issues for us all, we kindly ask that guidelines are followed. Once we hear differently, it will be posted ....
Freshman, Austin VanGorder, ptiches a complete game shutout throwing 10 Ks and only 2 hits. VanGorder himself had a single and 2 RBIs. Great defense from his teammates behind him helped hold Duanesburg scoreless over the 7 innings in the WAC tilt.
Along with VanGorder's efforts the Hilltoppers showed some strong defensive plays in the field. It took a while for the 'Toppers to get on scoreboard in this one. Matt Travis finally reached base on a single to right field. Senior, Troy Butler, would add 2 singles to help the cause. Steven Gray would knock out a single as well as scoring twice for Coach Phillips' 796th victory as the team looks to get him 800 wins all at Fort Plain.
Please understand that as we go through our COVID-19 season, our game schedule could change in a matter of seconds or daily. We will keep this page updated ASAP.
However our Twitter page @HilltoppersP will be best...
Follow the Guidelines and Be Safe...
1. Masks
2. Social Distancing
3. Wash/Sanitize Hands
4. We do not want our season canceled like last year
5. Do your part
#5 Troy Butler & #15 Austin VanGorder each provided clutch pitching and helped start the season!
The Braves of Fonda-Fultonville came to the Hill-Top and it was, as expected, a nail biter! Butler took the mound and recorded 12 strikeouts in 6 innings, 4 of them in the 5th inning when a dropped 3 strike got loose and the batter beat the ball to first base. VanGorder, freshman, came in for the 7th inning and closed the game off with a 1-2-3 inning.
Braves would get on the scoreboard first with a an unearned run by Justin Kearns. He later scored on an RBI by Tyler Sweet when they tied the game at two. In the bottom of the 6th, Matt Travis got it going with a dounle to centerfield, followed by an RBI by Anthony Paradiso past a diving infielder to score Travis as it would be the game winner at the end. Steven Gray would score on a wild-pitch, Paradiso scored on VanGorder's hit-by-pitch RBI and Butler scored on a fielding-error RBI by Josh Wilder to complete the scoring.
The play of the game came with runners on 2nd and 1st for the Hilltoppers' VanGorder placed the perfect bunt down first base side... and advanced the runners to 3rd and 2nd on VanGorder's SAC bunt. Next game at Mayfield, Saturday 5/8/21 depending on the weather.
Coach shares his thoughts and how proud he is of the program his teams over the years have built... Thanks to Spectrum Sports out of the Capital District - link is below
Please Stay Safe, Healthy and follow the NYS Guidelines...
Meanwhile....
Coach enjoys some Zebra Cakes....
Check out our twitter account @HilltoppersP
Coach Phillips is entering his 48th Season!
Yes, 48 years of Baseball Coach at one school.
Get After It...
