Justin Hill

By ALEX ABATE | DAR Sports Writer

Former Greenville baseball standout Justin Hill is a lumber expert.

Hill knew how to swing the lumber as he set the then single-season batting average record in Missouri with a mark of .679 in 1999, his junior season. Nearly a decade later, he is working with lumber as a resource assistant for the Missouri Department of Conservation out of Piedmont.

Hill works on different projects in the forest from measuring the dimensions of trees to checking the health of foliage. If necessary, they can take down a tree and sell the timber.

Along with timber management, Hill also fights timber fires. He has seen some fires in Southeast Missouri but has also been sent out to the western states in the past to fight fires there. The bottom line is that Hill just loves the outdoors.

"(I like) just being outside and we get to deal with the public a lot, whether its fire prevention or managing private timber," Hill said. "Just helping people and dealing with the forest, its great and is what I grew up doing, it its a career that is perfect for me."

Hill graduated Greenville in 2000 and went to Williams Baptist for a semester before transferring to Three Rivers. He finished up at Three Rivers in 2003. Even before he graduated college, Hill knew he wanted to do something with the outdoors.

"Out of school in the summer, most kids went to a baby-sitter or summer camp, we went to the log woods," Hill said. "We spent most of our time there, picking up limbs or whatever."

Hill developed a solid work ethic that he uses every day in his job, in large part to his father, Larry.

"Probably a lot of his work ethic comes from our dad," brother Jason said. "He always taught us not to sit around and wait for something to happen but to get up and make it happen."

Justin has always been someone who has loved the outdoors, his older brother said.

"He has always been that type," Jason said. "Whether it be squirrel, rabbit or deer hunting, he has always been that way. He would rather be outdoors doing something like that than be indoors watching a movie or something."

Hill's family tradition has always been in the forestry business.

"My family, for generations, has worked in the log woods on the harvesting part," Hill said. "I decided to take it a step farther, other than being on the harvesting part, now I am on the managing end."

As far as fighting fires is concerned, Hill said most of the fires in this area aren't too serious. The worst fire risk is in April and May when the temperatures and humidity are starting to rise. However, each fire that starts always has a chance to get big.

"When you fight fires, there is always a risk of injuries," Hill said. "Most of the time it's not so bad when you are in the trees, when you get a wildfire on a bad day when the wind is racing, it is challenging at times."

Hill's high school baseball coach, Scott Davis, isn't surprised he chose a job dealing with the wilderness.

"He had two passions, one was baseball and the other was outdoors," Davis said. "When his career did end in baseball, I knew he would be outdoors. He loved the outdoors, I knew he'd be doing something with that."

Even though Hill doesn't play baseball now, he sees some similarities between his current job and his days on the diamond.

"Mostly, I guess, I work with guys and in baseball that's what it takes, it takes a team effort," Hill said. "If you've got a group of guys whether its fighting fire or managing timber, one person can't do a whole lot. People together working as a team, you can get a lot more done."

Hill grew up playing baseball and it showed at Greenville. During his record-setting junior season, he had 36 hits it 53 plate appearances on his way to a state record that has been passed three times, the last by Nick D'Amico of Clearwater who had an average of .702. No matter the situation, Hill was always dialed in, Davis said.

"I tell you, one of the things that most impressed me about him, he went up to bat focused every at bat," Davis said. "Whether we had a long inning defensively or any other type of distractions."

Hill always kept pitchers on their toes with his quickness in the batter's box.

"Every time he came up to bat, he was a threat," Davis said. "His bat speed, he could turn on everything."

Hill, who now has a wife, Lori, and two children, Makayla and Makenzie, credits much of his success on the baseball field to his upbringing. All three of the Hill boys have been or are involved in baseball. Justin and his older brother Jason could often be seen playing catch in the yard.

"Growing up, of course, me and Jason are closer in age, what we always done is played baseball," Hill said. "We still laugh and joke about playing in our yard, we had two big spots in our yard where we always threw."

The youngest brother, Tim, who will play baseball at Williams Baptist this next year, was the latest to continue the baseball tradition in the Hill family. Whatever the brothers do in their respective lives, they will always have baseball as a common ground.

"The three of us are always going to have that in common," Hill said. "It is always going to be there."