NSU grad Scott Sanders recalls his success on the mound

When Scott Sanders was asked by former Nicholls State baseball coach Mike Knight to give up his first sport of choice – basketball – he struggled with the decision.

As a kid Sanders idolized his father, who had played both basketball and baseball before accepting the head basketball coaching position for the Colonels. Sanders wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps; only he hoped to make it to the NBA.

Giving up basketball would mean letting go of a childhood dream. After giving it thought, Sanders decided to play baseball full time. But Knight had yet another favor to ask.

“I thought about it and it was really hard for me to give up basketball but I did,” Sanders said. “Then he talked to me about giving up hitting. He asked me to only pitch and told me one day, maybe, I could make a living at it.”

At Thibodaux High, Sanders did a little bit of everything, but played mostly shortstop when he first joined the team. It wasn’t until he was put on the mound that he began making progress as a pitcher

“I was just kind of thrown out there my sophomore year,” Sanders said. “I had given up pitching when I played All-Star ball at 14.”

The experiment worked well for the Tigers.

“My junior year, I saw more of a role as a starter,” he said. “And by the time I was a senior, I was the ace of the staff.”

Sanders’ success on the mound in turn led to college scouts taking an interest. While many young athletes in the state dream of playing for the flagship school, Louisiana State University, that was not the case for Sanders.

“Nicholls was the only school I wanted to play for,” he said. “I loved Nicholls. I grew up on the campus and it was my dream to play baseball and basketball for the Colonels.”

That’s when Knight asked Sanders to be a one-sport player – namely baseball – and assume full-time pitching duties for the Colonels. On the mound, he helped the team to 36 wins and took his career to a new level.

“Three years later, I was a first-round draft pick and a lot of things started working out,” Sanders said proudly. “I put my heart and soul into solely baseball and trained year-round. I got bigger, stronger and started throwing harder.”

Sanders was selected 32nd overall by the San Diego Padres in the 1990 Major League Baseball draft and immediately signed his rookie contract.

He then flew out to San Diego for a workout with the team, before heading off for spring ball. After only staying in Rookie Ball for three weeks, Sanders went on to play Single-A ball in the Padres organization. After 18 months of Single-A ball, Sanders moved up to Double-A before eventually getting to Triple-A. At that point, Sanders knew he was one step away from making it.

“I was blessed to only spend three years in the minor league system,” he said. “It showed that my hard work was starting to pay off.”

On Aug. 6, 1993, Sanders took the mound as a Major League starter against the Colorado Rockies in San Diego.

“It was an awesome feeling,” he said of standing on the mound for the first time. “It was something that I worked hard for and waited for a long time. When I stepped on the mound, I had butterflies until my first pitch. Once I threw my first pitch, everything had settled down.”

Sanders’ debut went well as he went on to win his first start. A bit of his glory was taken away because it was also the same game that former Padres All-Star and current Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn notched his 2,000th career hit.

“Yeah, Tony took away some of my spotlight,” Sanders said, grinning. “But I’ll always have that moment. Just to be able to experience that and say I helped them win that game was special.”

That moment would prove to be one of many for Sanders, who went on to play seven seasons in MLB.

The Missouri native still gets goosebumps when he thinks about the night he returned to the “Show Me” state to pitch against the hometown St. Louis Cardinals. It was the National League Divisional Series playoff game and Sanders was the game two starter for the Padres.

“I was always a Cardinals and Royals fan throughout my childhood,” he said. “At that time, I pitched in front of the largest crowd in the history of Busch Stadium. That was a big thrill of mine to pitch in that stadium with what was the largest crowd ever against the team I grew up loving.”

While that night didn’t go well for Sanders, who allowed four earned runs in 4.1 innings of work, it’s still something he will always remember.

Following that season, the Nicholls graduate was traded to the Seattle Mariners, who turned around and traded him to the Detroit Tigers in 1997. He had started a combined total of 20 games between the two teams when he was traded back to San Diego in 1998 for a second stint with the Padres.

That year provided Sanders with another great memory – a World Series.

Even though the Yankees swept the Padres and Sanders did not set foot on the mound during the series, it’s still an experience he wouldn’t trade for the world.

“It was a bummer not to pitch in that game, but just to be a part of that accomplishment was amazing,” Sanders said. “It’s certainly something no one could forget.”

Sanders signed with the Cubs as a free agent during the 1999 season before playing a year in Japan in 2001. He retired for a year before returning to the United States for two more seasons to play Triple A before finally retiring for good in 2004.

Today, he and wife Lisa operate the Sanders Baseball and Softball Academy in Thibodaux.

Over his baseball career, Sanders had the opportunity to play in some of baseball’s most historical parks and can even credit strikeouts of Barry Bonds and Paul Molitor to his resume.

He compiled a 34-45 record with a 4.86 ERA and 632 strikeouts during his career.

“I went from having a dream of playing in the NBA to playing baseball,” he said. “It was great. I was blessed to play at the old Tiger Stadium and I was lucky enough to play in Fenway once and Yankee Stadium. Wrigley Field says it all. It is one of the icons. It’s sad to see some of these old parks gone, but at the same time, the times are changing and the economics of baseball is changing.”

Thibodaux High and Nicholls State University graduate Scott Sanders started in the major leagues on Aug. 6, 1993, pitching for the San Diego Padres. * Photo courtesy of SCOTT SANDERS