Darin Hendrickson is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

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 This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See #count, coun ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

Playing career

Hendrickson pitched for two seasons (1990–1991) at his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, 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 a postgraduate 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 prac ...

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 the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

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 an ancient city in Northern Africa, 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 classic ...

. 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) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

Division II

St. Louis Community College–Forest Park St. Louis Community College–Forest Park (also known as STLCC-Forest Park, and Forest Park) is a public community college in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of the four schools of the St. Louis Community College System and is one of nine communi ...

, 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 a ...

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 The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri, United States. In 2024, enrollment was 13,734 students from 48 states and 52 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, inclu ...

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 inst ...

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 The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Its fourteen me ...

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 Delta is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South (Nigeria), South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1 ...

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

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. These included second-round selection Nicholas Webber and tenth-round selection

Josh Outman Joshua Stephen Outman (born September 14, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics (2008-2009, 2011), Colorado Rockies (2012-2013), Cleveland Indians (2014), a ...

. 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 league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

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 most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching ...

. 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 South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

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 ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

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 catc ...

Grant Nelson, a ninth-round pick of the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Head coaching record

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendrickson, Darin Living people Sportspeople 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)