Elk River's Hadden leads with his mound calm

This baseball season is all about control for Elk River senior pitcher Terry Hadden.

The Elks ace, Hadden earned one victory and pitched an additional three scoreless innings as the team started the season with a flawless 5-0 record. Hadden, a 6-foot, 172-pound righthander, commands a fastball clocked in the low 80-mile-per-hour range, a 12-to-6 curveball, cutter and changeup. He signed to play in college at Bemidji State.

"He's gotten much better control this year," Elk River coach Ryan Holmgren said.

Hadden, an emotional leader for the Elks' football and basketball teams, is keeping a more even keel on the diamond as well.

Hadden spoke with Star Tribune reporter David La Vaque about the Elks' undefeated start, a test of his emotions against Anoka and staying sharp throughout a short season.

Q: What helped this team start undefeated?

A: We all have confidence in each other. We talk on the field and on the bench and no one is ever sitting down when we're batting. We're all standing up and supporting each other.

A: Last year we didn't really connect as much as we are this year. This year, some of our younger guys have played with us in traveling baseball so we knew each other pretty well and we are all pretty good friends.

Q: Coach said control is a big challenge for you, both in terms of your pitches and your emotions. How is that going this year?

A: I'm just trying to keep calm on the mound because last year, whenever something bad happened, I let it show a little bit. I felt that affected the team a little bit. Whenever I did badly at the plate, I brought it out on the mound with me. It just didn't work out very well. This year I'm leaving things on the bench.

Q: Giving up that three-run home run to Anoka — what kind of test was that for your emotions?

A: That was a huge test. I only gave up one home run last year, too, and it was against the same kid. So I'm sitting on the mound watching it go over the fence thinking about that. But the next time he came up, I struck him out on three pitches.

A: I didn't throw one in the dirt for him [laughs].

Q: It appears spring is finally here. How will your team meet the challenge of remaining at a high level throughout this short season?

A: We're just going to try to focus. The conference games are the most important games right now. Only the first game we play against a conference opponent counts in the standings, so we know that first one is so important. But each and every game can make us a better team and that's what we need if we want to do well at sections and good to state.