Sulser pitches Savannah to league championship

Beau Sulser not only received collegiate summer baseball league experience with the Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plain League, but he led the league in earned run average, pitched the Bananas to the league championship, and was named a summer league all-American.

“This was my first major summer ball experience, and it was awesome,” Sulser said.

Sulser graduated from Ramona High School in 2012. His freshman year at Dartmouth was in 2013, and that summer he was in the San Diego County summer league.

“It’s different. It’s just about getting work,” he said.

Due to tendon replacement surgery, Sulser did not pitch in a summer league in 2014 or 2015. He also did not pitch for Dartmouth during the 2015 National Collegiate Athletic Association season, so that year did not count against his four years of college eligibility, and he will be a senior during the 2017 NCAA season.

Players who have completed their senior season do not participate in collegiate summer leagues, so this year was Sulser’s final opportunity.

“I actually wasn’t even on a team until about three weeks before summer ball started,” he said.

Dartmouth’s catcher is Adam Gauthier, who was already on the Savannah roster. Gauthier recommended Sulser to Savannah head coach Sean West.

“Luckily I had a really good spring and he said ‘OK,’” Sulser said. “It really helped to have a good spring at Dartmouth.”

Sulser’s 2016 statistics for Dartmouth included a 4-1 win-loss record in five starts and five relief appearances with a 2.82 earned run average and a .262 opponent batting average. He allowed 38 hits and nine walks in 38-1/3 innings pitched while striking out 30 batters. One of his starts was a complete-game shutout against Brown; in that seven-inning game, Sulser allowed four hits, a walk and a hit batter while striking out five.

“It ended up being a really cool thing,” Sulser said of his summer experience. “I went down there and ended up doing pretty well for them.”

The Coastal Plain League had 16 teams this year. Savannah was a first-year expansion franchise.

“A new team in a league, usually they don’t do very well,” Sulser said. “Nobody knew how it was going to go because it was a first-year team.”

Expansion teams often struggle on the field, but the Savannah fans provided support. The Bananas sold out 17 of their 22 regular-season home games, and the total attendance of 80,504 set a league record while the average attendance of 3,659 ranked second among 160 collegiate summer league teams nationwide.

“The support down there was unreal,” Sulser said. “The fan base down there in Savannah was crazy.”

Sulser noted that the players were recognized outside the ballpark.

“They follow the team very closely,” he said. “The best experience for me was with the fans.”

Players are placed with a host family.

“I had incredible support from my host family,” Sulser said.

His hosts, the Stillman family, attended all of Savannah’s home games. Their 6-year-old son is a baseball fan.

“My host family was amazing,” Sulser said.

The Coastal Plain League is a higher level of competition than the local summer league, he noted.

“It was a whole different experience than what I’m used to,” he said. “Out there we’re playing in front of 4,000 fans. It’s one of the top college summer leagues in the nation, right behind the Cape Cod League.”

Sulser made five starts and seven relief appearances during the regular season that began May 31 and ended Aug. 6. He was the winning pitcher in the regular-season finale against Florence, which gave him a 3-1 record for the regular season along with four saves.

He led the league with a 1.21 earned run average, and opponents batted only .167 against him with only one home run in 162 at-bats. Sulser had one complete game and threw 44-2/3 innings, allowing 27 hits and eight walks while striking out 51.

Savannah qualified for the league playoffs. Dartmouth head coach Bob Whalen had placed Sulser on a summer limit of 45 innings since 2016 was Sulser’s first pitching year after the surgery.

“Because I’m throwing well and stuff like that, I ended up throwing 45 in the regular season,” Sulser said.

Sulser understood Whalen’s innings limit.

“He needs me for spring,” Sulser said.

Sulser called Whalen and asked if he could pitch in the playoffs.

“I put in all that work and I felt like I could really lead us to a championship, which would be awesome,” Sulser said.

Whalen allowed Sulser seven playoff innings. The first playoff round consisted of one game in which the winner advanced. Sulser pitched the first-round game Aug. 10 at home against Asheboro. He threw all nine innings in Savannah’s 3-2 win over the Copperheads, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out 11.

“It was an honor to do,” Sulser said of pitching the first playoff game.

The second round also consisted of a single game, and Sulser did not pitch. The Petitt Cup final was a best-of-three series, and after the Bananas and the Peninsula Pilots split the first two games, the rotation called for Sulser to pitch the winner-take-all game Aug. 16.

Sulser doubted that Whalen would let him pitch in the championship game, so Sulser didn’t inform his Dartmouth coach until afterward.

“He was completely understanding and very supportive,” Sulser said. “It ended up working out.”

Sulser threw five innings in the championship game against Peninsula before giving way to a relief pitcher.

“I didn’t want to push it,” he said. “We had a pretty good lead.”

Savannah had an 8-5 lead when Sulser departed. The Bananas held on for a 9-7 victory, making Sulser the winning pitcher in the championship game.

“It was amazing,” he said. “It made it extremely special for me.”

The championship was the first for Sulser. Ramona High School’s best showing during Sulser’s three varsity years was when the Bulldogs reached the CIF semifinals. Dartmouth reached the Ivy League championship game each year from 2013 to 2016 but lost in the final each time.

“That’s like the dream,” Sulser said of the championship. “That was the best feeling. It was awesome. You just strive to be part of a dogpile and finally got the chance to.”

The summer league all-Americans were chosen from summer leagues throughout the nation.

“That was a very cool award,” Sulser said. “Just to get named in the top 15 pitchers in the nation in summer ball was a very cool award and fun to be a part of.”

Sulser, son of Pixie and Roy Sulser, received social media and text messages from former teammates and others in Ramona while he was playing in the Coastal Plain League.

“The support back home from here was amazing,” he said. “That’s really humbling to be a part of. It was just very, very cool that that happened here in Ramona.”