Kyle Gauthier stood tall on the hill in a program-record 37-win season for the University of Hartford baseball this spring. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound righthander from Lynn Classical registered a team-low 2.76 earned run average, along with a 5-2 mark, for a 37-18 Hawk squad that lost to Stony Brook in the third round of the America East Tournament. Locked in as a weekend starter for most of his career, Gauthier was a second-team all-conference selection, as well as an all-academic pick for the second straight season. After missing three starts with a back injury, he returned to allow five hits and two runs over eight innings in an eventual 7-6 win over Stony Brook. Armed with a finance and insurance degree and a 3.71 GPA, he is now looking forward to MLB’s First-Year Player Draft that starts Thursday.

Q. Why did you choose finance and insurance as a major?

A. I thought I’d like the math portion of it. Analyzing data is pretty interesting. Insurance is getting bigger and bigger and I figured why not take a crack at it. If baseball doesn’t work out, hopefully I can do something like investment banking and go from there, I guess.

Q. What are your thoughts on the MLB Draft?

A. I wasn’t drafted last year and I think I have a pretty decent shot at being drafted this year. I’ve been talking to a couple of guys and filling out questionnaires. I was focused on this season, but the scouts are always around. There have been guys here and there taking videos, I’m not sure who they are, and teams have sent questionnaires.

Q. What’s your scouting report on Kyle Gauthier, righthanded pitcher?

A. Good life to fastball and has some sink. More groundball than strikeout pitcher. Mixes it pretty well. Throws four pitches for strikes. When on, hopefully hard to hit. More of a pitcher to contact than strike-them-all-out guy.

Q. What the velocity of your fastball, and what else do you have in your repertoire?

A. I’ve been clocked from 89 to 93 miles an hour and I think I got to 94 a couple of times. I throw fastball, a four-seamer and two-seamer, changeup, curve and slider.

Q. What do you like best about pitching?

A. I think it’s the competitive part, knowing that you’re facing good hitters and you’re out there competing. That’s what fuels the adrenalin. And the pitcher usually dictates the game, controls the flow of the game, how fast it’s going.

Q. What are your best baseball memories from Lynn Classical?

A. Getting into the state tournament stood out. My older brothers never made it and I got a couple of chances to take a crack at it and we went to the North final my junior year.

Q. And the highlights from Hartford?

A. Being able to start on the weekends since freshman year. Most freshmen don’t get to do that and I was in a good situation. Most freshmen will come out of the bullpen or pitch weekdays to get groomed for weekends and I was thrown into the fire, which was kind of cool. Freshman year was a little nervewracking, but I got used to it after a couple of starts and now a weekend game is like any other day.

Q. What are you most proud of in your time at Hartford?

A. It’s been interesting. When we first got here we weren’t very good and now I think we’ve really turned the corner. We didn’t have a great freshman year (the Hawks went 17-36) and sophomore year (31-23) we started to turn it around. I take pride in getting a good education and getting my degree this year and being able to play baseball. It’s been awesome. It’s been a fun ride.

Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received from a coach?

A. Just focus on the little things. Throw a good amount of strikes, let your infield make plays . . . Just keep working hard and working at what you’re good at.

Allen Lessels

Allen Lessels can be reached at lessfam321@gmail.com.