Having confidence is necessary to be successful in any sport. That’s certainly true for young pitchers in the always-tough SEC.
Georgia sophomore Liam Sullivan can relate.
As the big left-hander gets ready to take his turn in the Bulldogs’ weekend rotation, he’ll be able to point to a start early last May at Arkansas that helped convince him he does indeed belong.
Injuries to the rotation necessitated Sullivan getting the call in Game 1 back on May 7 against the then top-ranked Razorbacks.
Although Georgia would drop the game 3-0, Sullivan used the game not only to open the eyes of his coaches, but also his own.
The lefty from Marist High went six innings, allowing just one run on three hits with just one walk and 11 strikeouts.
Considering Arkansas has one of the more raucous atmospheres in all of college baseball, Sullivan said the effort did wonders for his confidence. He hopes that will carry over to this spring. The Bulldogs open their season with a three-game set starting Friday against Albany.
“Just knowing I had the ability to go out there and do that, it set me up for the rest of that season and for this season,” Sullivan said. “I feel really good about myself and about my ability to pitch in the SEC. I’m excited for this year.”
It appears Sullivan will get his chance.
At last check, Sullivan appeared to have a spot in Georgia’s weekend rotation, along with Jonathan Cannon and newcomer Dylan Ross.
Cannon remembers the game well.
“That was so fun to watch, and it was so cool to see everything he had been working on in the pen and practice come together in that outing,” Cannon said. “One of the biggest things in pitching is just confidence. If you have confidence, you can go out there and get a lot of outs. That start gave him a ton of confidence; he went in and had good outings all the way through. He pitched really well; had a really good fall and looking forward to seeing him have a really good spring.”
Considering how poorly Sullivan’s SEC debut went nearly two months earlier against Tennessee, his showing against the Razorbacks is even more impressive.
In just one-third of an inning against the Volunteers, Sullivan only gave up two hits but walked five. Tennessee would score five times before he was pulled from the game.
For some true freshmen, such a catastrophe might have ruined them for the rest of the season. Not Sullivan.
By the time Georgia’s season was complete, he fashioned a 1-2 record with a respectable 3.99 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 38.1 innings.
“That was bad,” said Sullivan, recalling the game against the Vols. “But honestly, it was so bad that all I could do was just put it behind me. There was nothing I could do about it, just get focused on getting better every day.”
That’s just what he did.
In four starts, Sullivan did not win a game, but posted an ERA of just 3.26. Included was another solid effort against perennial power Ole Miss, allowing just one run with six strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
“I did have some ups and downs last year,” Sullivan said. “But now, just being able to know I can go out there and do fine, knowing I can do it, is huge.”
Complete with a three-four pitch mix, Sullivan may have the best curveball on the team. It’s his ability to keep hitters off balance with that breaking pitch that has the Bulldogs confident he’ll be a key part of this year’s staff.
“I’m excited. We’ve got a ton of good arms, whether it’s in the bullpen or in the starting rotation, I’m just here to do the best I can,” Sullivan said. “The goal is to go to Omaha. And whatever role is our best role, the team wins, is the role we want to be in. Whatever we can do to help the team is what we want to do.”
