Haviland super in 1080 win

July 20, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By JON MOFFETT

Struthers

The 1080 Media baseball team scored only two runs in its opening game of the Connie Mack tournament at Cene Park.

But those two runs were more than adequate thanks to a dominating performance by pitcher Dillon Haviland. The right-hander from Fayette High in McDonald, Pa., struck out 13 and surrendered only one hit in a 2-0 victory over the Akron-area Boys of Summer on Monday.

“I felt real well out there,” Haviland said. “I felt really loose in warmups and everything was just working for me today.”

The Boys of Summer weren’t the only team to feel Haviland’s heat this year. He was drafted in the 48th round of this year’s Major League Baseball draft by his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates.

But Haviland said he had anticipated to go higher – between rounds 10 and 15 – and opted instead for education. He will attend Duke University this fall and hopes to make an immediate impact.

“I’m very excited to just get down there and start playing,” he said. “I hope to break the starting rotation my first year and start pitching as soon as I get down there.

And when Haviland moves into his dorm room Aug. 24, his focus will be solely on improving the Blue Devils. He discussed bringing the school an Athletic Coast Conference title, and hopefully an NCAA championship.

In his first year of Class B baseball, Haviland had an ERA of 0.59, which was good enough to win an award for the league’s top pitcher.

And while coach Andy Timko knows having Haviland on his team is a luxury, he joked that it was also somewhat dangerous.

“When he’s on the hill, sometimes our hitters relax a little too much and he doesn’t get a lot of run support,” Timko said. “But he’s a great kid, and a very good pitcher.”

Haviland (2-1) helped the 1080 Media team to a 25-2 season. Timko said he was one of the most important cogs this year.

“You knew every time he was going to throw that you’d be in the game and you had a better than average chance to win it,” Timko said. “He’s been a great find for us this year.”

1080 will play today at 5 p.m. on field one.