Sitting on the bench in his red and yellow ISU jersey, Ross Marsden is back with the Cyclones. But instead of sneakers and a basketball, the Ames native is armed with cleats, gloves and a bat. He’s now a baseball player.

Just a day after giving up his scholarship on the ISU men’s basketball team, Marsden went back to his roots playing baseball, joining Iowa State’s club baseball team.

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” said Marsden who was a first-team academic all-Big 12 selection in 2007. “It happened literally in one day.”

When Marsden walked out of basketball coach Greg McDermott’s office on March 10, he decided his athletic career with the Cyclones was finished, to focus on school.

“I just didn’t have the fire or the drive for the game [basketball] that I used to,” he said. “It would have been unfair to my teammates if I continued with that.”

What he didn’t know was that within a day, he’d be listed on the club baseball team’s roster. After expressing interest to his girlfriend that he was thinking about getting back into baseball for the first time since high school, word traveled quickly around campus, all the way to club president and second baseman Bryan Scholar.

“I heard he was interested,” Scholar said. “I figured I might as well give him a shot if he wanted to come out. I figured we had nothing to lose.”

The Cyclones lost nothing. Instead they gained a 6-foot-10, 225-pound first baseman and filled a huge gap in their pitching staff, which included only eight pitchers at the time.

“He definitely resembles Randy Johnson in his appearance,” said starting first baseman and pitcher Bryan Junge. “We aren’t expecting those types of results out of him, but we certainly hope he can help us coming out of the bullpen.”

The Cyclones probably won’t get those results right away. Marsden, who hadn’t played baseball since his sophomore year at Ames High School, originally gave up the game for his career on the court. With his basketball career finished, the sophomore was quick to jump at the opportunity to get back into the game he always loved. Having practiced from time to time with his older brother Ben, also a first baseman and pitcher for the Iowa Hawkeye’s club team, the younger Marsden phoned his brother in Iowa City to get his advice. After some encouraging words from Ben, there was only one more thing left to do – call his parents.

“I asked if they still had my cleats,” he said. “Luckily they did.”

While Marsden had to invest in some new pants, socks and a belt, the rest of his equipment was right where he had left it.

“I had a glove, batting gloves and all that stuff,” he said. “It’s just been sitting in my garage the whole time.”

By April 18, just over a week from making his announcement to leave the basketball team, Marsden was on the field for the Cyclones’ starting game one of a doubleheader against Northern Iowa.

Batting in the eighth spot in the lineup, he went 0-for-2, striking out and flying out to the pitcher. One game later, he was on the mound for Iowa State, striking out two and giving up three runs in two innings of work.

For his parents Hugh and Sheri, the most exciting thing they said they saw that day was the sight of their son back in a baseball uniform.

“It’d kind of fun to get back into the baseball habit,” Hugh said after watching his son play.

Although most opponents have not caught on to Iowa State’s new recruit, the view was exciting for catcher Jim Smaga. Having spent most of the winter watching Marsden on the court, he suddenly found himself catching for the tall right-hander.

“It was just weird seeing that I’m going to be playing with a basketball player,” Smaga said.

Although Marsden said both sets of teammates are happy with the decisions he’s made, he has no plans to give up this career.

“I’m going to try it,” he said. “If they think I’m good enough I might as well, but I would like to stick with it.”