All-Star Spotlight: Delone Catholic baseball player Dalton Haymaker The senior right-hander served as the ace of the Delone staff for the past two years By Mike Rubin mrubin@GameTimePA @michaelrubin6 on Twitter Posted: 07/04/2014 02:00:38 PM EDT Tweet Delone Catholic’s Dalton Haymaker delivers a pitch during a YAIAA baseball tournament semifinal against Spring Grove in May. Haymaker was named YAIAA Delone Catholics Dalton Haymaker delivers a pitch during a YAIAA baseball tournament semifinal against Spring Grove in May. Haymaker was named YAIAA Division IV Player of the Year. (File — GameTimePA) For the past two seasons, Delone Catholic has banked on senior right-hander Dalton Haymaker to dominate on the mound. This year, Haymaker finished with a 7-2 record with a 1.81 ERA and had a batting average of .319. The Squires finished the season 16-7 overall and made it to the District 3 Class AA quarterfinals before falling to Berks Catholic, 2-0. Haymaker was named YAIAA Division IV Player of the Year. GameTimePA York-Adams All-Star Week YAIAA baseball all-star photo gallery Why do you play baseball? I play because I love the aspect of having a team working together. You cant win with one guy. Its a big team-building thing. It helps you learn that you succeed and fail at things and you need to keep a level head and keep playing. If you could change any rule in baseball, what would it be? I agree with most of the rules. There is not one that sticks out. I can say that some of the balk calls I wish would be called more often. Do you have any superstitions? I have a lot. If I am in a slump, I change things up until I start getting a hit. Maybe I will take some extra swings in batting practice, or take one less. Sometimes I will try to change socks. One game I wore maroon socks because I wore maroon in the fall and hit well. Occasionally I will change what I eat before a game. Who was the toughest opponent you faced? The two teams that I knew coming in no matter what their record said or what the report was — that hey, were going to give me a hard time — was Hanover and Susquehannock. Hanovers record wasnt that great, but they played us tough and gave us probably two of the toughest games we had all season. Susquehannock was a great team. The one player that had my number and who I thought about most was probably Sammy Miller from Susquehannock because he is a very well-rounded athlete. Baseball all-star photo gallery What is the highlight of your career? It has to be pitching the shutout in the 2013 District 3 Class AA championship where we beat Kutztown, 4-0. It was not just for me, but for the team as a whole. We had double plays that we turned that we had not turned all season. It was also the first one in school history for baseball. What sport would you be worst at if you played? I would have to say golf. I am not a very good golfer. What is your favorite thing about baseball? I like how at times it is a one-on-one matchup. It is also a team thing because you cant just win with one persons performance. You have to have nine guys giving it their all to win. If you had a walk-up song when you came to the plate, what would it be? Lose Yourself by Eminem, but the clean version, obviously. What is a better feeling, blowing a fastball by a batter or a curve ball that buckles the batters knees? A fastball by them, but in my case I throw more of the off-speed. I like them both because they dont hit it. If I had the speed, I would say throwing a fastball by someone would be better. Did you guys ever do anything fun during a rain delay? Hunter Keith supplied the music for the team this year and had a rain delay playlist. When we played Biglerville up there, we got in two innings because of the rain. He played it the whole way to Biglerville and the whole way back and we still didnt get through all of it. I dont remember all of the songs, but he had Its Raining Men and Pocket Full of Sunshine.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 23:23:28 +0000
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