From Diamond Don to diamond Dawg.
Cochrane slugger Brendan Hendriks has gone from University of San Francisco to Okotoks this baseball season. And he likes where he is, close to home and playing for a Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) championship.
“It’s a fun atmosphere,” he said on Seaman Stadium field after Dawgs defeated visiting Medicine Hat Mavericks 6-4 in front of 3,674 fans to open their best-of-5 WMBL opening-round playoff series. “It’s always great when fans come out like this and we come away with a win. It’s fun to play out here when the atmosphere’s like this.
“I just have to get runs across the plate. That’s my job.”
The hard-hitting lefty’s searing two-out grounder through Mavs first-baseman Andy Scott in the bottom of the eighth scored Matt Morrow from third, giving Dawgs the all-important insurance run heading into the top of the ninth.
“He’s a great one. He’s been so huge in the cleanup spot,” enthused Dawgs field boss Brett Thomas following the Game 1 win over Mavs. Okotoks led the series 2-0 as of Aug. 4. “To have a guy like that, who you can count on; a guy who’s left-handed who hits righties and lefties equally. A lot of times that’s tough to find.”
But it wasn’t too tough to find Hendriks this summer. After his senior year at University of San Francisco ended, he was passed over in the 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. This, after hitting .290 this season for the Diamond Dons in National Colleges Athletic Association (NCAA) Div. 1 baseball. He crushed six home runs and 16 doubles with 34 runs-batted-in (RBI) and 29 runs scored in 214 plate appearances for USF in his senior season.
“I would call it a surprise,” he said of being overlooked in the June 8-10 MLB draft. He’d been drafted by the Philadephia Phillies in the 40th round of the 2011 MLB draft, but opted to join University of San Francisco. He was draft-eligible again this spring. “I had a lot of people telling me I was going to go. That’s the story of a lot of other guys here. You just take it day by day.”
The day by day is now in Okotoks with the Dawgs. While the 6-foot-2, 202-pound utility infielder’s job is to hit the skin off the ball, he also takes the time to sign autographs for the throng of young program-clutching fans who assemble around the Dawgs dugout following games. The 22-year-old is playing first base for Okotoks.
“As long as we win that’s all we need. The fans are behind you, too,” he said of playing close to home. “This is a fun league. It’s close to my home for me. That’s why I’m out here. I can come out and play baseball for fun and who knows where baseball’s going to go for me?
“As of right now, I’m just enjoying it. I hope we win here. It makes it a lot of fun.
“I’m going to take the winter off and then hopefully go play professionally next year. Talk to some scouts and see if I can maybe get an independent contract or a free-agent deal or something like that.”
The Dawgs are just glad to have him as they work towards their fourth WMBL league pennant.
“Couldn’t be a better kid on the world. He comes in here every day with a professional approach,” Thomas said. “I know he’s disappointed about how the draft worked out. For him to still come here and continue to work hard and wear Dawgs across his chest with pride is really special.”
22-year-old infielder
2015 Okotoks Dawgs, WMBL
First base. Bats left. Throws right
.336 avg.; 36 RBI; 6 HR in 125 at-bats WMBL first-team all-star
2015 USF Diamond Dons (NCAA)
Utility infield
.290 avg.; 34 RBI; 6 HR in 214 at-bats
