It is time to take me out to the Billikens baseball game. Baseball Head Coach Darin Hendrickson is ready for the 2012 baseball season, which starts this Friday at the Mule Mix Classic against Lipscomb.Hendrickson is entering his fifth season as the Bilikens’ head coach. He hopes to repeat the success that he had with his previous team in 2010, when that team won the Atlantic 10 Conference championship and had an NCAA tournament berth.
“This is the best team I’ve had in five years. My guys have bought into the system and the University, and we have a lot of guys who are hungry to win this year after missing the tournament last year,” Hendrickson said.
In previous years, Hendrickson has had success at Saint Louis University. When he joined the Billikens in 2007, he increased their win total three years in a row. Hendrickson had back-to-back 30-win seasons in 2009 and 2010, and he has won 87 games while at SLU.
Hendrickson has does have high expectations for this team. However, the team is projected sixth place in the preseason standings after finishing a disappointing 10th place in conference last year.Despite his high expectations, Hendrickson said that the sixth place prediction was a “fair estimation” for the team — especially with competition from defending A-10 champion Charlotte and from Rhode Island and Xavier, who are some of the preseason favorites in the A-10 Conference.
SLU is in the middle of the baseball pack this year, but Hendrickson said only a few wins last year separated them from the A-10 standings.Though last year’s team missed the NCAA tournament, this year’s team is experienced and is similar to the 2010 team that made it to the tournament.
“On paper, this team has a lot of potential to be one of the winningest teams in my previous years at SLU. This team is very comparable to the 2010 team,” Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson has many seniors on this team who are ready to perform this year.
“You can’t put a price tag on maturity, especially with the amount of seniors we have on our roster,” Hendrickson said.
Another key to this year’s team is the fact the entire pitching staff is returning from last year. This includes pitching standouts Alex Alemann and Damian Rivera. Twenty one players from last year’s team are returning to play on this year’s team.
The team will play two nationally-ranked teams in the Coca-Cola Classic early in the season. The Bills will play No. 17 Arizona State on March 1 and No. 23 Oregon State on March 3. The team will not play its first home game of the season until March 9, when they begin a three-game series with North Dakota.
The A-10 will be a tough conference this year. The Billikens will begin their conference season on March 23 against Temple, but their toughest conference challenge comes at the end of the conference season, when the team will travel to Charlotte to face them in a three-game series.
Even with all of this in mind, the Billikens have the experience and the maturity necessary to compete in the A-10. Coach Hendrickson has a lot of confidence in his team this year.
“We are going to make some noise this year in the A-10,” Hendrickson said.
The senior leadership and conference record will be important in determining the team’s success this year. The Bills have an opportunity to repeat their 2010 campaign by getting into the NCAA Tournament, and they have a similar team that could get them into the tournament for the second time in Coach Hendrickson’s five years at SLU.
