Willett, Hamilton embark on
4th seasons ready to lead Lobos

Senior pair is a huge reason the Lobo baseball team is turning heads.

Lobo baseball captains Dane Hamilton and Max Willett know how to deal. From seldom starts to season-ending surgeries, the pair has endured a lot during their tenures as Lobo baseball players.

Both have embarked on starting and successful roles for the 2009 season, but those were not always every day. Still, Hamilton and Willett acknowledge that the ride has been a learning experience they are glad to have taken.

“We both have become a lot more mature — as teammates, as leaders, as captains,” Willett said. “We both have seen the trials you go through when you are sitting and now we are actually getting to play.”

The pair has led UNM to a 22-3 start. Their reliability and consistency is a big reason the Lobos cracked the national polls this week, ranking 21st in the country according to Baseball America.

“We are young, but each member on this team is maturing so fast,” Willett said. “The expectations are to win a regional. Those are the expectations we live for every day. For any of us to say that is not (the expectation) is undermining us as a whole.”

That chance to play regularly is not something the pair has taken for granted, however.

WORKING HIS WAY BACK: MAX WILLETT

Photo by David Benyak (UNM Athletics)

Junior Max Willett plays solid defense in the vast depths of center field.

Willett, who has appeared in all 25 games, starting 23, carries a .367 batting average this season. His 25 RBI match the amount he compiled in the previous three years combined.

Willett had only started 19 games between his freshman and sophomore seasons and after a hot start to the 2008 season, he broke his hand at Minnesota in a tournament game against Northern Iowa. He competed and started in only 12 games before being sidelined with season-ending surgery. He earned a medical redshirt and is classified as a junior this season.

“It was probably one of the hardest things I have had to go through in my career,” Willett said. “I didn’t get a ton of playing time my first two years and then I finally earn a spot to play in an every day job, but got hurt. It was really frustrating after putting in all that work.”

“It took some time,” Willett said of rehabilitating and healing. “The strength factor and everything like that. But I had the entire fall and I used that entire fall to get used to seeing pitching again. I still battle the whole timing thing. Luckily I had the time in the fall and definitely a lot of patience.”

GROWING INTO THE ROLE: DANE HAMILTON

Photo by David Benyak (UNM Athletics)

Senior Dane Hamilton leads the Lobos in doubles through March 26.

Hamilton, who served mostly a utility role over the past three seasons, has manned third base all 25 games this season. The senior has compiled a .425 battingaverage and leads the team with 14 doubles.

He was 6-for-7 on Saturday, March 7, in game one of a doubleheader against Binghamton, hitting for the cycle and an additional double and single.

“A big part of it is confidence and trusting your abilities and in what you can do,” Hamilton said. “I try to be a lot more patient at the plate and make the pitchers come to me.”

Hamilton said he likes knowing where he will play on a regular basis as well.

“This year it is nice to be settled down in a spot that I can focus on and be in the lineup every day,” Hamilton said. “It is one of those things I have worked hard to do to get in that spot, so it is kind of nice.”

FINDING BALANCE

Both Willett and Hamilton realize that the grind of the baseball season as well as their school load requires them to manage their time and priorities effectively.

“You definitely grow up and learn to handle your responsibilities,” Hamilton said. “The biggest thing I learned was how to manage my time. With school and baseball everyday, you have to choose your hours carefully. I have grown in terms of that. In baseball, I continue to work hard, come to practice early and stay late.”

The two are Colorado products, Willett coming out of Highlands Ranch High School and Hamilton from Grand Junction High School. The two never competed against each other until the Colorado Top-40 at Coors Field their senior years.

“I love Colorado kids,” Lobos head coach Ray Birmingham said. “These two are hungry to win, to learn. They have taken a plan, bought into it and have proved it can pay off. I like that.”

Written March 26, 2009

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