Dillon Eaves has wanted to play college baseball for as long as he can remember, but midway through his final season of American Legion ball with the Kalispell Lakers, he didn’t have any offers.

After throwing a 9-inning no-hitter against the Glacier Twins on June 2 he was hoping to make Arizona State’s team as a walk-on, and that remained the plan until early July when he accepted a partial scholarship offer to play for New Mexico State, a Division I program in the Western Athletic Conference.

Through a teammate he contacted former Major League pitcher Steve Ontiveros, who spent parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues with the Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox. Eaves’ parents flew Ontiveros to Billings to scout the 6-foot-4 right-hander and he was immediately impressed.

“First of all he passes the eye test because he’s got great size for a pitcher,” Ontiveros said of Eaves. “But one thing that stood out more than anything, because it’s something you don’t see at the youth level, is his composure and poise.

“The team was breaking down behind him, but he didn’t lose his cool and was aggressively attacking the hitters.”

Ontiveros sent his scouting report to several schools in Arizona and New Mexico, and Eaves said four schools quickly expressed interest. Grand Canyon University, Arizona Christian and Paradise Valley Community College all began recruiting the 18-year-old, but the school that really captured his attention was New Mexico State.

“They’re the one that reached out to me the most and did a great job of recruiting me,” Eaves said. “When things got really serious, my grandfather and I took a trip down to Las Cruces (N.M.) in the middle of July. The pitching coach did an amazing job of selling the program to me, recruiting me and really just getting me to buy into the program.

“It offered some pretty good educational options … so I’m not just going down there to play ball, I’m also there to learn something that will help me out for the rest of my life beyond baseball.”

Receiving that offer was a dream come true for Eaves, who grew up in California attending Dodgers games and playing baseball year-round. He moved to Kalispell when he was in seventh grade, which restricted his playing time to the summer months but didn’t dampen his love for the game.

“Baseball is all I played in California,” he said. “All the way through 12 years old I played it 12 months a year and it was all I really focused on. It’s always been No. 1.”

It’s easy to see why New Mexico State took an interest in Eaves. Armed with an 88-90 mph fastball that occasionally reaches 91 and a slider he commands well enough to throw in any count, Eaves already has two pitches Ontiveros considers “above-average.” He can also throw a curveball and a change-up for strikes.

“His mechanics were above-average and his baseball IQ, setting up hitters, was really good,” Ontiveros said.

Eaves mowed down his opposition this season, finishing with a 7-inning ERA of 2.40 (2.99 for 9 innings) and an exceptional strikeout-to-walk ratio of 129 to 33 over 105.1 innings. Those numbers were good enough to earn Eaves All-State honors, giving the Lakers an All-State performer for the fifth consecutive year.

“We’ve seen huge strides with him since he was 16,” Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said. “I thought last year his velocity jumped and he developed a slider that became his second pitch. We knew we had something special when he was 16, and he made great strides from one year to the next.”

Eaves finished the regular season by hurling seven scoreless innings against Medicine Hat (Alberta) to help the Lakers clinch the No. 5 seed in the Montana-Alberta AA State Tournament. He was a tough-luck loser at the state tournament, giving up all four runs in a 4-3 loss to the Billings Scarlets, but his calming presence gave his teammates an extra jolt of confidence each time he toed the rubber.

“Every time he was on the mound we felt like we were going to get out there and get a win,” Lakers catcher Adam Frandsen said. “He has a lot of confidence on the mound and it transfers over to everyone else.

“He pounds the zone, he’s going to hit his spot every single time. And if he doesn’t it’s a rare occasion, buy a lottery ticket.”

The one thing missing from Eaves’ arsenal, according to Ontiveros, is a “put-away pitch.”

“He had above average pitches, but he didn’t have that nasty pitch that strikes fear in hitters,” Ontiveros said.

Eaves racked up big strikeout numbers with the Lakers because he was able to overwhelm opposing hitters with velocity, but he knows that won’t work at the next level.

“They’re going to adjust to it,” he said. “They see 89-90 (mph) all the time, so it’s basically like batting practice … I need something else, something that’s going to make me better than them, something that when I get to 0-2 I can put a smile on because I know I’m going to get them out.”

Eaves hopes his slider can be that pitch.

“That was something I really tried to focus on,” he said. “I’ve still got a lot of room for improvement, but hopefully that’s something four years will do.”

Eaves is the second Lakers pitcher to join a Division I college team in the past three years. He follows Joe Pistorese, a junior at Washington State, who was the ace of the Lakers’ pitching staff when Eaves was 16.

“It’s been a quick three years,” Eaves said of his time with the Lakers. “But it’s been three years I wouldn’t want to spend with any other team. I’m sad that it’s over, but that’s part of growing up and I’m getting ready to move on and keep it going down south.”

Eaves arrived at New Mexico State’s campus in Las Cruces on Friday. He said practice begins the first day of school and fall ball starts in October.