VALDOSTA — There’s been no shortage of potential distractions this season for Valdosta pitcher Dayton ”D.L.” Hall, today’s matchup against his former Houston County team is just the latest.

Hall is used to having eyes trained on him. It comes with the territory for a player as highly-regarded as the 6-foot-2, 170-pound lefty, even if he tries not to notice it.

“During the season, I just try and focus on doing what I can for the team and focusing on being myself,” Hall said in an interview in late February. “I feel like if you get caught up into the hype, then you’ll start dealing with a lot of failure, just because your head is not where it’s supposed to be.

“I try and just pay attention more to playing the game and not all the hype.”

Hall helped guide Houston County to a Class 5A state championship a year ago, and during the run, he quickly rose up prospect lists everywhere.

As a junior, Hall went 6-1 on the mound with 89 strikeouts and three saves in 58 innings of work for the Bears, which eventually led to opportunities to pitch at the Under-Armour All-American game at Wrigley Field in Chicago and the Perfect Game All-American game at Petco Park in San Diego during the summer.

Hall also used the summer to make the gutsy decision to return back home to Valdosta for his final season of prep baseball, where he’s attempting to lead the Wildcats to a state championship of their own on the diamond.

Prior to the season, Hall fulfilled a childhood dream and inked a letter-of-intent to play college baseball at Florida State, but with the hype he’s generated, Hall may have the opportunity to take his talent directly to the professional level.

Hall entered the season as one of just 10 high-school pitchers on MaxPreps’ preseason All-American team, and one of Maxpreps’ and Perfect Game’s top 10 Major League Draft prospects for 2017.

Considered the top left-handed pitcher in the country, Hall also landed at No. 4 on Maxpreps’ list of the Top 100 senior baseball players for 2017.

It’s no surprise that every time a player with the pedigree Hall sports takes the mound, it’s going to be a spectacle. Each one of Hall’s starts have been marked by the throng of scouts pointing radar guns at every pitch before quickly scribbling down some notes, but its a ritual he’s grown accustomed to.

“It’s a lot of pressure for a lot of people, but I feel like I can deal with it pretty well now, just because of playing summer ball and going to some of the All-American games I was fortunate enough to go to,” Hall said in an interview last month. “We kind of get used to it because it’s like that at every event we go to during the summer with so many of top kids in the country playing against each other.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but I don’t even pay attention to it anymore. It’s something that, when it first happened, it was huge and it lasted for a little while, but now I’m just going to be myself and play my game. Everybody plays with the same ball and glove.”

It hasn’t been difficult for Hall to be himself at Valdosta, despite the prospect status he attained during his time away from home.

He’s been able to pick up right where he left off with many of his Wildcat teammates off the diamond. It’s between the foul lines that Hall and his former teammates have had to become reacquainted.

“I’ve known most of these guys my whole life, so it wasn’t too hard,” Hall said. “But they haven’t really seen the new player since I was younger, my freshman year of course, and now I’m back, so it’s a little new to them to see me playing now.

“I still just try and be the same guy, and I try to grow on them and learn things from them and try to get them to learn things from me.”

The learning experience has been positive for all those involved so far.

Valdosta sits at 7-4 overall, 0-1 in Region 1-6A, heading into the region home opener at Bazemore Field today against Houston County (3-9, 0-0).

In three appearances over 11 1-3 innings this season, Hall sports a 1.80 ERA with 28 strikeouts to five walks and three hit-batters. He’s also hitting .476 with six doubles and nine RBIs at the plate.

Behind Hall, sophomores Jude Ard and Avery Stephens have a combined ERA of 3.59 with 51 strikeouts and 24 walks over 37 innings of work.

The one bump Valdosta has to overcome is a rough beginning to the season from No. 2 starter Luke Ard, who’s ERA sits at 6.52 through 9 2-3 innings this season. He’s only allowed five hits, but he’s walked 25 batters over that span.

Hall isn’t concerned with the performance of the second half of the Wildcats’ 1-2 punch, though. He went through his own bout of control issues early this season.

“It’s early in the year,” Hall said. “Having a little hiccup like that, you can’t let that determine what’s going to happen all the way throughout the season. I think that just made me learn more about myself.

“You learn from the bad stuff and you just build on the good stuff.”

Valdosta returns home for the first time since Feb. 24 today after four consecutive road games, looking to build momentum, similarly to how it did around this time last season when, beginning March 11, the Wildcats won 15 of their final 17 regular-season games.

Phenomenal pitching performances by Ard, Seth Shuman and Jacob McMillan propelled Valdosta during that run, and now with Hall in the mix, along with both Ards (Luke and Jude) and Stephens, the Wildcats could put together another streak, beginning today at 7 p.m.

“In high school, you don’t have to have that many arms to be a good team,” Hall said. “As far as high school, having one or two really good arms is huge.

“Even with the guys we have coming out of the pen with Luke’s little brother and Avery Stephens, we’ve got some really good arms.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.