<\/p>\n
HASKELL — Baseball is ingrained in boys from an early age. For Harmony Grove senior Dax Hammett, the diamond life began at the age of 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never dropped it. It has always been my main sport and my focus for what I am trying to do for my future,\u201d Hammett said.<\/p>\n
Hammett serves as the Cardinals reliable ace on the mound with stats that would light up any resume.<\/p>\n
For his career to this point, Hammett has struck out 290 hitters in 133.1 innings of work. Coupled with his 0.579 earned run average and 11 earned runs allowed, the senior has parlayed his performance into a college roster position.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all starts with preparation,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cYou have to practice so when you get in situations you know you\u2019ve been there before. It also comes with experience. I\u2019ve been playing the game for a long time and been in these situations many times. At the end of the day it comes down to the confidence in yourself to do what you do and you can do and believing in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before hitting his 1,000 point on the basketball court last week, Hammett was overcome with celebration from his fellow students and teammates when he signed his letter of intent to attend Texas Tech for baseball.<\/p>\n
Hammett made the announcement last fall before making it official.<\/p>\n
While the landing spot ended in Lubbock, Texas, the journey started at a camp at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a call from ULM and didn\u2019t know much about them at the time,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cThey invited me out to a camp and liked me and then offered me. I went on an official visit and knew ULM was a place I could see myself going in and playing and developing as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, a coaching staff change forced Hammett\u2019s course to alter.<\/p>\n
The coach that recruited me left and they brought in a whole new squad,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how it would look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hammett decided to decommit from ULM.<\/p>\n
From there he would go on to pitch in a tournament in Texas with recruiters in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe texted me a week later and said he would like for me to be a Red Raider and offered me everything,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cI knew it was an offer I couldn\u2019t decline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hammett takes his love for pitching from Los Angeles Dodgers great Clayton Kershaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like controlling the game and everyone putting their trust in me to go out there and pitch the best I can,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cYou can lose it for everyone or win it for everybody. I love being on the mound.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hammett said once he got to the high school level he knew he was as good as anyone in the league and could likely go far with his baseball career.<\/p>\n
With a year left before shipping south, Hammett has high expectations for the 2026 Cardinals — win a state title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am excited to play with my friends and coaches one last time,\u201d Hammett said. \u201cThey have become a close family. It is sad coming in, but I am excited because this team is going to be something special. If we don\u2019t shoot ourselves in the foot we are going to go far. My expectation is to win a state championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hammett and the Cardinals kick off their season March 2 with a road trip to Camden Harmony Grove. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HASKELL — Baseball is ingrained in boys from an early age. For Harmony Grove senior Dax Hammett, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[2315,2309,5,2316,2323,2317,2313,2325,2413,1147,57,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,2307,2327,2321,185,2311,2312],"class_list":{"0":"post-585121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-postseason","8":"tag-athletic-sports","9":"tag-ball-and-bat-games","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-baseball-competitions","12":"tag-baseball-events","13":"tag-baseball-games","14":"tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","15":"tag-baseball-teams","16":"tag-champion-seasons-in-major-league-baseball","17":"tag-clayton-kershaw","18":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","19":"tag-major-league-baseball","20":"tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","21":"tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","22":"tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","23":"tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","24":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams","25":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","26":"tag-mlb","27":"tag-mlb-playoffs","28":"tag-mlb-postseason","29":"tag-outdoor-sports","30":"tag-seasons-in-american-sport","31":"tag-seasons-in-baseball","32":"tag-sports","33":"tag-team-sports","34":"tag-turf-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}