Ethan Hamilton ’24 is the ace of the pitching staff of the Dickinson Baseball Team. He is a big part of why the Red Devils have been so successful this season. 

Hamilton explained he had a very simple plan in his start against Washington College, which won him the Pitcher of the Week award for the Centennial Conference.  

“I knew I just had to throw strikes. After seeing the scouting report, I knew to attack them early with the fastball and then mix in off speed. I really just wanted to throw strikes and let the fielders make plays, which they did. My fastball was working well and moving a lot but when I had to use my offspeed, I was able to locate it where I wanted,” Hamilton said.

No matter the level of competition, throwing strikes is always the key to success. Throwing strikes is prioritized by the Dickinson staff and it has paid off this year. “There’s a real emphasis throughout the staff on throwing strikes. We’ve done a pretty good job of it. It’s definitely one of our key goals, to throw strikes and attack early,” ——- said.

Adjustments are an important part of baseball. Dickinson seems to have a good system in place to make them. Trust is a big part of it. It’s clear that the players and coaches trust each other and are open to helping and learning from each other. 

“The coaches and catchers are always helping and giving me various ideas and they know what they are talking about, so the advice is always positive. We’re always communicating into what we think is working. I have a lot of trust in my catchers and I find myself rarely shaking them off,” —– said. 

A lot of First-Years struggle with playing time and getting a chance to show their skill. For Hamilton, however, it was the opposite. He was leaned on in his first year and looked comfortable from day one.

Hamilton states that “Freshman year went really well for me, ending in Rookie of the Year for the conference.” After his stellar first year, the pressure was on for Hamilton. He knew he would be leaned on for innings. 

“Going into Sophomore year, I worked hard to ride the momentum of freshman year, but it didn’t go as well. It was still really important to me to throw a lot of innings and give our team a chance to win,” Hamilton said.

It’s clear that Hamilton attempted to overcompensate last year, worried about the amount of innings for which he would be relied. However, Hamilton has seemingly fixed his issues this season. His Earned Run Average has plummeted to 3.58 after finishing last season at 4.83. Hamilton’s numbers have improved while his longevity and innings pitched are still going up. 

Hamilton is only two appearances off his total last year, and there’s no reason why he won’t soar past his innings mark from last year. “Last year I was too worried about going deep in games, leading to me not mixing in my offspeed early. But this year I’m just throwing what I have from early on,” he said.