BASEBALL: White Sox draft Brandon Hardin in 10th round
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Chicago White Sox made Pinckneyville native Brandon Hardin the 231st overall selection in the 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Tuesday, picking the right-handed closer from Division II College World Series runner-up Delta State in the tenth round.
Hardin was tracking the draft online Tuesday afternoon when he got a call from White Sox scout Warren Hughes.
"I was sitting in my grandma's living room watching the computer and then I got a call and they said 'get ready, you're about to get picked up in the tenth round," Hardin said. "They called my name out and I was pumped, it's the best feeling in the world."
Hardin led the Statesmen with 24 appearances and 8 saves in his senior season. He finished with a 5-4 record and an ERA of 1.03 in 35 innings pitched while sporting a 36-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Opposing hitters batted just .160 off of Hardin in 2012.
A member of two state-bound baseball teams while at Pinckneyville Community High School, Hardin helped Delta State survive the loser's bracket to reach the CWS championship game.
"The College World Series is probably one of the funnest trips I've ever had," said Hardin. "Awesome field, best ballpark I've ever played in. Not too many people get to say they played for a National Championship."
Hardin will take care of paperwork with the White Sox in the next couple of days before heading off for a mini-camp, followed by an assignment to one of two minor-league affiliates.
"I leave Saturday for mini-camp in Arizona until the 17th, then I'll go to Great Falls, Minnesota or Bristol, Tennessee," said Hardin.
"It's one of the biggest dreams I've ever had, I'm glad that it finally came true. It's just awesome."
The 6'1, 200-pound twenty-two year-old said up to ten teams had shown interest in him at some point during this season, but that the White Sox were always his top suitor.
"They were the biggest on me all season," said Hardin.
The 2008 PCHS graduate and three-sport athlete became the first former Panther to be drafted into Major League Baseball since the institution of the draft in 1965.
Hardin transferred to Delta State for his junior season after first playing at Kaskaskia College in Centralia, Ill.