Kalamazoo, Mich. — The Growlers were still building the roster for their first season as a member of the Northwoods League barely a week before the season started.

One of the two left-handed pitchers they added, along with Luka Bolka of East Carolina, was Dillon Haviland, a Pittsburgh, Pa. native and Duke Blue Devil.

Haviland presents a contrast from the younger talent that makes up a large part of the Northwoods League. He is a college graduate who has three seasons of experience under his belt, plus a redshirt year. He is in his first season of summer collegiate baseball.

And while he has had to fight through labrum surgery on his throwing shoulder, an injury dangerously close to a death sentence for many pitchers’ careers, he has fought back and has been one of the Growlers’ brightest stars on the mound in 2014.

Haviland has seldom been completely healthy in his college career. He fractured a bone in his elbow less than a month into his freshman year, and the time spent rehabbing set him back in his acclimation to the college game.

The following fall, he began to feel lingering pain in his shoulder. Such discomfort is not always accompanied by an injury, so Haviland went the route of icing and resting, hoping his shoulder would feel better.

It didn’t, not over the winter break and not during the spring. Haviland could hardly throw the ball further than 120 feet without sharp pain. He lost velocity and command on his pitches.

He fought through it, though. There was the deeply ingrained fear, whether grounded or not, that his coaches would think he was soft for not pushing through pain. And surgery was still fresh in his mind, so he didn’t want to go the experience of missing more time with his teammates.

But his condition didn’t improve, and after consulting with doctors, he decided to go ahead with the surgery. Haviland knew that a full recovery wasn’t guaranteed. His velocity might not come back, he might have a setback in rehab, or something else could go wrong.

The possibility of a successful rebound, though, was enough for Haviland.

“It was just the fact that I wanted to keep playing,” Haviland said.

Haviland had surgery at the end of his sophomore season and redshirted his junior year, which allowed him to take his time with rehab. Heading into his senior year, his coaches waited to set him up with a summer team so they could see how he recovered from the injury.

He felt strong in simulated games, then hit 85 mph during the spring. It was clear he was ready to go, so Duke pitching coach Andrew See, who formerly coached under Growlers coach Joe Carbone at Ohio University, helped set Haviland up with the Growlers.

Haviland’s outing on May 31 against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters felt like a culmination of all the hard work that preceded it. Before the game, he was working with Growlers pitching coach Chris Smith on following through on his delivery to get more jump on his fastball and bite on his offspeed pitches.

He entered in fourth inning, when the Rafters had already scored five runs and were threatening to close the 10-7 deficit even more.

But Haviland quickly recorded the last two outs of the frame and proceeded to slash through the Rafters’ lineup the rest of the game. He worked fast and got ahead in the count, making the 14-7 game feel more like a pitcher’s duel.

“We (myself and the catcher) got into a groove calling pitches, and he was right on the same page as us, not shaking, going right with it,” Growlers pitching coordinator Mike Ott said.

Haviland didn’t allow a hit, only walked one batter and struck out nine.

“It was the best I’ve felt on the mound in a long time,” he said.

In the time since, Haviland has only solidified his role as one of the go-tos of the Growlers pitching staff. He has gained a spot in the starting rotation, and in his first start, he held Wisconsin Rapids to one run on seven hits in seven innings. Haviland has a 1.22 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings pitched. He is set to get the start in Wausau, Wis. today, where the Growlers will face the Wisconsin Woodchucks. 

Haviland is using the extra year of eligibility his redshirt year afforded him to work on a graduate degree and possibly boost his chances of playing professionally. He knows he won’t get by on overpowering velocity, but he looks to crafty MLB pitchers like former Pirates left-hander Wandy Rodriguez for inspiration.

“I still think I have a ways to go,” Haviland said. “Taking a year off pitching, (I) definitely lost a lot of reps on the mound. But every time out there, I’m feeling more and more comfortable.”