Much like Men’s Basketball Coach Rick Majerus, Darin Hendrickson found himself coaching players that he did not recruit.
Nevertheless, the head baseball coach, in his first year at Saint Louis University, has led the team to an 18-21 record overall-a record that has surpassed last year’s 16-win season with 15 games still left in this year’s regular season.
In its most recent game Wednesday, April 23, the team faced Missouri State University. With 17 hits on the game and six runs in three innings, the Bears overpowered the Bills, 9-4.
“We just got beat by a better team,” Hendrickson said. “They were better in every position, and the talent wasn’t even close. We battled, but they had good hitters against inexperienced pitchers.”
Flash back to SLU’s 7-6 victory over University of Missouri-St. Louis on Tuesday, April 22, when the Bills went through four pitchers to get the job done. For the first six innings of the game against MSU, freshman George Hebert took the mound for the Bills, giving up 10 hits and seven runs.
“[Using four pitchers] pushed our bullpen deeper, and we had to burn our whole staff this week,” Hendrickson said. “Everyone has certain roles, and it puts us in a tough spot when players can’t fill those roles.”
Sophomore center fielder J.D. Dunn said that one of the difference-making plays of the game came in the seventh inning, when MSU’s Ben Carlson belted a home run off junior Brad Perkins’ first pitch.
“It kills when you can’t get back up from [being behind],” Dunn said. “The hitters try to do too much to get back in the game, and it puts pressure on them.”
Beginning with the fifth inning, MSU had hit after hit, and untimely errors on defense for SLU allowed the Bears to extend their lead. Hendrickson said MSU’s experienced hitters figured out Hebert’s style by the fifth inning.
“The third time through the lineup, they start to up to the freshman; that’s what will happen even in the major leagues,” Hendrickson said. “When it got to 5-4 in the fifth and then 7-4 in the sixth, it pushes our pitcher, and by that point, people will have seen him.”
Sophomore infielder Andrew Guerra, who leads the club with 16 doubles and is second in runs scored, with 25, said the recruits next year will bring a new sense of team unity.
“We already have a core group of guys, so we’re excited about seeing new faces, and I think the mix could bring great things for next year,” Guerra said.
Next up for the Bills is a three-game series against George Washington University on campus, starting today at 7 p.m. and concluding Sunday, April 27.
