Darin Hendrickson is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

coach who has been the head coach at Saint Louis since the start of the 2008 season. Hendrickson has also served as the

batting practice B backdoor breaking ball :A breaking pitch, usually a slider, curveball, or cut fastball that, due to its lateral motion, passes through a small part of the strike zone on the outside edge of the plate after seeming as if it would miss the ...

pitcher for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

Playing career

Hendrickson pitched for two seasons (1990–1991) at his alma mater, SIU Edwardsville. He was named First-Team All-Region both season and ranks among the school's leaders in career winning percentage, with an 18–5 (.783) overall record.

Coaching career

Following his graduation in 1992, Hendrickson served as an assistant at SIU Edwardsville for three seasons (1993–1995) while he earned his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

there. He considered attending law school, but elected to stay in college coaching.

Fontbonne

Hendrickson's first head coaching position came at

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...

Fontbonne, where he helped to start the Griffins' baseball program. Hendrickson coached there for four seasons (1996–1999). His best came in 1998, when the Griffins went 41–7 and won the SLIAC regular season and tournament championships to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. At the Central Regional, Fontbonne went 0–2, losing 6–4 to North Central and 17–2 to

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

. Hendrickson was named both the 1998 SLIAC and Central Region Coach of the Year.

STLCC–Forest Park

From Fontbonne, Hendrickson moved to

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Division II St. Louis Community College–Forest Park, where he served as both the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

and head baseball coach for four seasons (2000–2003). Forest Park qualified for the NJCAA Tournament in each of his four seasons, reaching the NJCAA World Series in 2001. That year, Hendrickson was named both District and MCCAC Coach of the Year.

Central Missouri

When Central Missouri State head coach Brad Hill left for

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

after the 2003 season, Hendrickson was hired to replace him. At his introductory press conference, Hendrickson said, "The tradition is something I'm really looking forward to. Looking at their history, it is just amazing. I've only had an opportunity to view it from the outside. I am really excited to be a part of it now." Hendrickson spent four seasons (2004–2007) at Central Missouri. Under him, the Mules had three 50-win seasons and won three Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association regular season and tournament titles each. They appeared in the NCAA Tournament in all four of his seasons. In 2004, the Mules swept through the Central Regional, defeating Wayne State (NE) 22–2 in the regional championship. At the College World Series, the team lost its opener to Delta State but recovered to finish third. In 2005, the Mules again swept through the Central Regional and finished third at the College World Series. In 2006 and 2007, the program reached the NCAA Tournament but was eliminated in the Central Regional. Hendrickson was named the MIAA Coach of the Year in 2004, 2005, and 2007. In 2005, five Central Missouri pitchers were selected in the first 11 rounds of the

MLB Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

. These included second-round selection Nicholas Webber and tenth-round selection Josh Outman. Outman, who had begun his career under Hendrickson at Forest Park and followed him to Central Missouri, went on to pitch in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Saint Louis

Hendrickson left Central Missouri for the head coaching position at Saint Louis ahead of the 2008 season. After missing the A-10 Tournament in his first two seasons, the Billikens won it in 2010 to qualify for their first NCAA Tournament under Hendrickson. At the Louisville Regional, Saint Louis went 0–2, losing games to host

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

. Saint Louis won three straight A-10 regular season titles in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 2012, Hendrickson was named the A-10 Coach of the Year. In 2013, the team went 41–21 and also won the A-10 Tournament to qualify for another NCAA Tournament. At the Columbia Regional, the Billikens lost both games, 7–3 to host

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and 10–2 to second-seeded Clemson. At Saint Louis, Hendrickson has had several major award winners and professional draftees.

Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Alex Alemann won the 2010 A-10 Rookie of the Year Award, and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Mike Vigliarolo was named the league's co-Player of the Year in 2013. Between 2008–2014, Saint Louis has had eight

selections under Hendrickson. The number includes two top-ten round picks:

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Grant Nelson, a ninth-round pick of the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, and pitcher James Norwood, a seventh-round pick of the Chicago Cubs in

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Head coaching record

Below is a table of Hendrickson's yearly records as a collegiate head baseball coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendrickson, Darin Living people People from Granite City, Illinois Central Missouri Mules baseball coaches Fontbonne Griffins baseball coaches STLCC Archers baseball coaches Saint Louis Billikens baseball coaches SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball players SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball coaches St. Louis Community College Year of birth missing (living people)