Neal Frendling heads into his fourth season as an assistant coach at Chicago State where he serves as the team’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.

During his first year with CSU in 2008-09, Frendling tutored senior William Lawrence to Great West Pitcher of the Week honors and guided freshman James Tucker to one of the program’s biggest Division I victories at perennial west coast power Pepperdine.

Frendling joined the Cougars after serving as the pitching coach for the Hammond Chiefs from 2006-08 in which he helped the team finish third at the Babe Ruth World Series on two occasions.

As a player, Frendling spent six seasons as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays organization where he played at every level, including a stint at the Triple-A Durham Bulls. He was a part of the 1999 Hudson Valley Renegades squad, which featured current Major League players Jorge Cantu, Matt Diaz, Josh Hamilton, Carl Crawford and Joe Kennedy, that won the New York – Penn League championship. Frendling led the organization in 2000 with 174 strikeouts to go along with an 8-8 record and a 3.38 ERA as a starting pitcher with the Charleston (S.C.) Riverdogs of the South Atlantic League.

Frendling was drafted in the 16th round (492nd overall pick) of the 1998 MLB Amateur Draft by Tampa Bay after his senior year at Lake Central (Ind.) High School before declining to sign to attend Rend Lake College in Ina, Ill., for the 1998-99 school year. He helped Rend Lake capture the 1999 Region 24 championship and come within one game of the Junior College World Series before signing with the Rays.