Ex-South Fayette standout to pitch against Wild Things

Dillon Haviland at Duke.

Dillon Haviland’s baseball career has come full circle.

Haviland, a McDonald native and South Fayette graduate, is a pitcher for the Frontier League’s Gateway Grizzlies. He will be starting for Gateway today (2:30 p.m.) against the Wild Things at Consol Energy Park.

It has taken five years for Haviland, a 6-3, 210-pound lefty, to make the journey from the WPIAL to Duke University to professional baseball and then back to Western Pennsylvania. He’s looking forward to pitching again in Western Pennsylvania. It will be Haviland’s sixth professional start.

“When I was moved into the starting rotation, I looked at the calendar – and so did my family – and  we started counting the days. We realized that barring injuries, a rainout or any unforeseen circumstance, I would get the opportunity to pitch a game here in front of family and friends,” Haviland said Friday prior to the series opener against the Wild Things.

Haviland was a dominant pitcher at South Fayette, leading the Lions to the WPIAL Class AA semifinals and the PIAA championship game as a hard-throwing junior. He threw three no-hitters and four one-hitters for the Lions. Haviland had a 10-0 record, 0.96 ERA and 100 strikeouts in only 56 innings as a senior, when he was named the WPIAL Class AA Pitcher of the Year.

Following his senior year at South Fayette in 2010, Haviland was drafted in the 48th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Being a late-round pick, Haviland had no bargaining power, so he accepted a scholarship to pitch in the Atlantic Coast Conference at Duke.

The college career got off to a slow start because of two injuries. During the fall of his freshman season, Haviland slipped during a running drill and braced from hitting the ground with his left elbow.

“The next time I threw a curveball in the bullpen, I heard a pop,” Haviland recalled.
It was a fractured elbow. The injury delayed Haviland’s start to the spring season, though he pitched in 13 games (eight starts) as a freshman for the Blue Devils.

The next year, didn’t go as well. A cranky shoulder was diagnosed as a torn labrum that led to a redshirt season.

After 2½ seasons of pitching in relief to limit the workload on his surgically repaired shoulder and producing solid statistics, Haviland was moved to the starting rotation at midseason this spring.
“We had a starting pitcher, Mike Matuella, who was drafted in the third round by Texas this year, go down with an injury,” Haviland said. “We had three relievers who could have become starters, but I guess the coach felt more comfortable with me doing it because I was older.”

Haviland finished the year with a 3-1 record and 3.40 ERA in 17 outings (seven starts) against some of the best competition in the nation. Opponents batted only .231 against Haviland, but he wondered if it was enough to get drafted a second time.
There were talks with scouts and pre- and post-draft workouts, but Haviland’s name wasn’t called during the draft and no free-agent contracts were offered.

“It got to the point I just wanted to play baseball. I had to get back on the field,” Haviland said.
That’s what made Gateway and Haviland a match. The Grizzlies were in last place in the Frontier League’s West Division and manager Phil Warren decided to overhaul his roster and plan for next season by going with 10 rookies fresh out of college. One of the hose is the 23-year-old Haviland, who signed in late-July.

Haviland has made five starts and gone at least six innings in each of the last three outings. He earned his first professional win Tuesday in the Grizzlies’ 5-4 victory over the Frontier Greys.

“He’s getting better as we go,” Warren said. “He’s adjusting. Dillon pitched in college this year and will benefit from having an offseason. He has some improvements to make, but his secondary pitches are definitely good enough. He’s capable, that’s the big biggest thing with him.”

Today’s outing will be the first time some family and friends have seen Haviland pitch since high school, before the injuries, when he was a different pitcher.

“My velocity is not the same as it was in high school,” he admitted. “I’ve learned to be a better pitcher and work with what I have.”