University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Spotlight: Dustin Klabunde
4/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 9, 2012
A Brownton, Minnesota native, Dustin Klabunde missed out on the 2010 season due to a shoulder injury. Already surpassing his appearance total from 2011, Klabunde earned his first career save this year when he closed out the UW-Milwaukee game (2/25) earlier this year. A three-star athlete in high school, Klabunde is also a sports management major. Here's a question and answer session with the Gopher senior.
Q: You've started the season really strong this year. Has being fully recovered from your shoulder surgery helped that?
A: "I was healthy last year and it felt good then, but I wasn't as sharp as I am this year. Clearly it helps to be recovered because if you have a hurt arm, games do not always go as well. You cannot put as much pressure on the ball because you have to constantly readjust your motions to try and compensate for your injury. So it has helped a lot being healthy. This season my shoulder has not bugged me at all, it has been feeling great."
Q: In high school you were a three sport athlete, earning high regards in basketball and football. What made you decide to focus and play baseball in college?
A: "In high school I actually almost did not play football my senior year so that I could focus mainly on baseball and basketball. But I decided to play though because we only had about 30 people on our football team. It was a really easy decision for me to focus on baseball after I was being recruited here and other Division I schools. I was not getting any looks or offers for any other sports. I got some letters from smaller schools for basketball, but never went on any visits or anything because baseball is my favorite sport, which is another reason why I kept playing it."
Q: Do you have any pre-game rituals before you start pitching?
A: "Well I have just a weekly routine. I just try to get in routine here at the Dome. I can't say I really have any pre-game like ritual though. I feel like I used to, when I played basketball in high school. I know that baseball is known as a very superstitious sport, but I can't say that I do anything that I am superstitious about. When I do warm up before a game I just do basic stuff: I will usually hit fumbles during batting practice or go through my warm up to get my shoulder ready before I actually start throwing, just stuff like that, nothing really crazy I guess."
Q: What is your favorite part about playing at the Metrodome?
A: "Just the fact you know you are going to get a game in every day and you don't have to worry about rain or putting tarp on the field. You know you are going to be out on the field at a specific time, you are going to get your game in, and then you are going to go home then come back the next day to do it all over again. You don't have to worry about all the external factors, like weather or basically other things most other schools have to deal with normally because they play outside. I definitely love the Dome, just so that I can have practice every day and not worry about changing the time of a game or anything like that. It is very helpful because it allows us get on a routine and get used to playing."
Are there any inside jokes, embarrassing moments, or dugout pranks this season with any of your teammates?
A: "I feel like in years past it has been a little crazier than it has this year. Every once in a while during batting practice we will hoard the balls to the outfield and towards the end of the group when the manager is supposed to get the balls back into the infield, we would throw all the balls at once and then they would have a bunch of balls to pick up. But there are little pranks, I guess Billy Soule was doing the old Hot Foot, sticking a piece of tape on someone's heel and then lighting it on fire. Nothing too crazy though that I can think of."
