University of Houston Athletics
Sullivan Named Summer Player of the Year by Baseball America
8/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 30, 2002
HOUSTON - After a dazzling off-season, University of Houston pitcher Brad Sullivan was named the 2002 Summer National Player of the Year by Baseball America magazine on Friday.
Sullivan, who became both the Cougars' and Conference USA's first-ever consensus All-American at the end of the 2002 collegiate season, was one of four starting pitchers named to the team.
With the numbers that he posted as a member of the 2002 Team USA National Team, it was no surprise that Sullivan would be named to the All-America Team. In seven games, he assembled an amazing 0.72 ERA with 56 strikeouts and only 36 hits in 56.0 innings of work.
He collected two wins over the Japanese Collegiate All-Stars in July on the way to being named the Series Most Valuable Player. A few weeks later, he pushed Team USA into the first-ever FISU World University Baseball Championship game with a 2-1 victory over Japan.
David Purcey (Oklahoma), Kyle Sleeth (Wake Forest) and Jered Weaver (Long Beach State) were the other starting pitchers on the Baseball America squad. Sleeth joined Sullivan as a member of Team USA during the summer.
During the 2002 collegiate season, Sullivan emerged as possibly the nation's finest pitchers. He tied a UH single-season record with 13 wins and shattered the old record with 157 strikeouts, including a UH single-game best 16 against Memphis on April 12.
Sullivan became even more dominant as the season drew to an end. In his final three starts of the year during the C-USA and NCAA postseason, Sullivan compiled a 3-0 record with 23 strikeouts in 25.1 innings and a eye-popping 0.36 ERA.
