Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 24, 1998

Tuesday Tidbits

Before he caught the flu, Arizona senior left fielder Jason Hendricks drove in a career-high eight runs in the 18-7 win over UCLA March 14. For his efforts, Hendricks was named co-national player of the week by Collegiate Baseball America for the second time this season. He sat out last weekend's series against Southern Cal because of the illness he caught while in Las Vegas during UA's two game series with UNLV. Hendricks' bat was sorely missed in the lineup as Arizona lost all three games against the Trojans.

Another Arizona baseball player has garnered some national attention. Freshman shortstop Keoni DeRenne has been invited to camp with the USA National Team this summer in Tucson. DeRenne is the only Wildcat on the roster, which is currently at 16 players with the final 24 picks slated for later in the spring. DeRenne entered the season considered one of the best defensive freshmen in the country, and he hasn't disappointed with a .954 fielding percentage to date. He has also done his job at the plate, hitting .378 with five home runs and 38 RBI.

Former UA football player Mike Szlauko will be saying goodbye to the Tucson sun and heading north of the border.

The former defensive end recently signed a contract to play for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

Plagued by injuries during much of his career at UA, Szlauko ended last season as the team's top pass rusher - while he was healthy. In only five games, he recorded 8.5 sacks and 13 tackles for a loss.

Though he was limited much of the season due to a back injury, he still earned Pacific 10 Conference player of the week honors for his three sack, six tackle performance against Stanford.

The Laxcats were down to just 14 players when they faced Chapman March 14 and 15. Two starters were out of the lineup with suspensions, leaving the team's backup goalie, who is also their star defenseman, playing in the net. The team, however, still managed to squeeze out a 9-7 victory.

"We played probably the best four quarters of lacrosse all year and it was a very gratifying victory for us," Laxcat head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said.

With great play from junior midfielder Chris Stinson (three goals and one assist) and from senior Dave Ames (14 saves) in the goal, the Laxcats pulled off an improbable victory in an important game.

"This was a tremendous win for us," Felton said. "It puts us in a position to be the masters of our own fate."

The weekend was not a total success, as the Laxcats met up with Drew, a Division III school from New Jersey, and lost 13-5.

"I think we would have liked to represent ourselves better but we put so much mental energy into Saturday's game that we were missing some of it on Sunday," Felton said.