Homecourt To Home Plate Cougars Basketball Star Makes College Debut On Mound Vs. Gonzaga
Mark Hendrickson, Washington State’s all-Pacific-10 Conference basketball forward, will make his much-awaited college baseball debut this afternoon.
The 6-foot-9 left-handed pitcher is scheduled to start the second game of today’s 4 p.m. North Division doubleheader against Gonzaga.
Kyle Poffenroth, a walk-on freshman from Walla Walla, will start the first game for the Cougars, who are 5-5 in the Pac-10 and 13-20 overall. Gonzaga is 5-6 and 1915.
Hendrickson, who averaged just over 16 points and nine rebounds for WSU’s basketball team last winter, was drafted by Atlanta in the 12th round of the majorleague draft following his senior year in high school and was selected in the 21st round by the San Diego Padres in 1993.
As a high-school senior he pitched Mt. Vernon to the State AA baseball championship, finishing 10-1 with an 0.84 earned run average.
During fall practice with the Cougar baseball team, his fastball was clocked at 86 miles per hour.
But even more impressive to firstyear coach Steve Farrington was Hendrickson’s control
“He throws strikes no matter what,” Farrington said. “And when you get a 6-9 left-hander who can throw strikes, you’ve got a good thing going.”
Farrington would not put a pitch count on how long he expects to use Hendrickson, but he said he expects the third-year junior, who has three seasons of baseball eligibility remaining, to throw as least 50 pitches.
Hendrickson’s realization of his dream of playing college baseball might seems like a nightmare to Cougar basketball fans. But Hendrickson said he expects to return for his senior year in basketball no matter what happens on the baseball diamond.
“I don’t think (signing a professional baseball contract) would be something people would have to worry about,” he explained. “I’ve known throughout the years when scouts come calling that I want to stay in school.
“We’ve got a very good squad coming back next year as far as basketball goes, so I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t come back and get my degree.”
WSU assistant Tom Chamberlain, who tutors Cougar pitchers, said he’s “drooling” over the prospect of having a 6-9 lefty on the mound.
“And the way he competes in basketball, if he can even come close to that on the pitching mound, I’m sure I’ll be happy.”
Hendrickson had planned to join the baseball earlier, but his debut was delayed by a minor shoulder injury he sustained in the Cougars’ loss to Canisius in the quarterfinals of the NIT.