This article originally appeared in the February 14, 2013 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.
Runners on first and second. Bottom of the tenth. Two outs and a
2-2 count. Arkansas is clinging to a 1-0 lead with a spot in the College World
Series on the line.
On the mound, sophomore pitcher Colby Suggs does what he has
done since he could walk. He releases the pitch. Baylor’s Dan Evatt swings, but
doesn’t connect. Strike three. The Razorbacks are going to Omaha.
While many fans know Suggs clinched last year’s Super Regional,
few know exactly how he ended up in Fayetteville.
FIRST LOVE
Suggs began playing baseball when he was four years old, but he
has been around the game for much longer.
“He has an older brother, so Colby was thrown out there from the
time he could walk, watching his older brother play,” Colby’s mother, Kerry,
said. “I can remember when he wasn’t even old enough to play and he would make
his dad take him to the field and pitch.”
Kerry knew then that her son was destined to play baseball.
Living in Sulphur Springs, Texas, they went to many Texas Rangers games while
Colby was growing up.
Of course, signs of his future in baseball were evident on the
field, too. Playing third base in tee ball, Colby once fielded a ball, tagged
third and threw it to first for a double play.
It was during this time that he also started developing a love
for the Razorbacks. His father, Joe, is originally from Arkadelphia, Ark., so
Colby watched every Arkansas sport on television and at Christmas time, his
Arkansas family would give him Razorback gifts.
“I learned quickly from my husband that if you’re from Arkansas,
you’re a Razorback fan,” Kerry said. “It was all (Colby) knew.”
HIGH SCHOOL STAR
As Suggs got older, he got even better. In middle school, he
went to a Sulphur Springs High School baseball camp, where he caught the eye of
Sulphur Springs head coach Jerrod Hammack.
“You could tell he had a lot of ability,” Hammack said. “He
definitely stood out as an extremely hard worker.”
Before baseball season started his freshman
year, Suggs played football
for the Wildcats as a quarterback. Then he switched gears and turned in a
“dominant” season as a pitcher, Hammack said.
“Whatever we were doing, he was truly doing it 100 percent,”
Hammack said. “That expression is used a lot, but he epitomized it.”
In the weight room, he worked hard to become stronger. He
eventually broke, and still holds, the school “Wildcat Offseason Record,” a
competition that involves weight lifting and speed drills. In fact, he was so
athletic and strong his sophomore year that the football coaches asked him to
move to the offensive line and play center.
“He was a very smart, tough and tenacious player that loved to
compete,” Sulphur Springs football head coach Greg Owens said. “He did a great
job transitioning.”
While playing center his junior year, Sulphur Springs won the 4A
Division II state championship. Suggs also received individual recognition on
the gridiron, earning All-District honors twice.
However, where Suggs really excelled was on the baseball
diamond.
During his junior year, Sulphur Springs played Henderson (Texas)
High, who was led by 2010 St. Louis Cardinals first-round draft pick Tyrell
Jenkins. In the game, Suggs struck out 17 batters in a loss, but Hammack said
he thought Suggs out-pitched Jenkins.
“I knew what the scouts thought of (Jenkins), so I really
thought Colby had a shot to play at the next level,” Hammack said.
The next year, they faced the same team and swept them. Again,
Suggs performed well, pitching a shutout against Jenkins.
“I was very confident that when he was on the mound and pitching
well, we had a great chance to win the ball game,” Hammack said.
RECRUITING THE RAZORBACKS
Standing only 6 feet tall, playing football in college was not
an option for Suggs, not that it bothered him much, though.
“He didn’t really have the size to play football,” his mother
said. “He liked football and was good at it, but that’s what he did in the
offseason.”
Suggs’ heart was with baseball, and more specifically, with
Arkansas baseball. Despite receiving offers from baseball powers such as Dallas
Baptist and Texas, he wanted to be a Razorback.
Following his junior year, he wasn’t on Arkansas’ radar, so he
took matters into his own hands.
Arkansas was playing in the 2009 College World Series and defeated
Cal State Fullerton in game one when UA hitting coach and recruiting
coordinator Todd Butler received a phone call on the way back to hotel. He
didn’t recognize the number, but answered anyway.
“I’m Colby Suggs and my parents are from Arkansas and I want to
be a Razorback,” Suggs said over the phone.
“Well Colby, what position do you play?” Butler said.
“I’m a right-handed pitcher.”
“How hard do you throw?”
“Ninety-five miles per hour.”
“Get in your car right now, start driving to Omaha and you can
pitch game two of the College World series,” Butler said.
From that moment on, Suggs was officially on Arkansas’
recruiting list. About two weeks after the College World Series, Butler visited
Suggs and saw that he could actually throw 95 miles per hour. Suggs then took
an official visit to Arkansas.
“I still think we would have been recruiting Colby Suggs, but
(he and his parents) kind of started the recruiting process a little earlier,”
Butler said. “His desire was to be a Razorback from the beginning.”
UNDER THE RADAR AGAIN
His first two years at Arkansas, he was “overlooked” because of
“all the other great pitchers on our staff,” Suggs said.
Suggs was 2-1 as a freshman in 2011 with a 0.90 ERA in 20
innings of work and 7-1 with a 1.38 ERA in 39 innings as a sophomore, but
pitchers such as Nolan Sanburn and D.J. Baxendale overshadowed him. Sanburn and
Baxendale were taken in the second and 10th round of last year’s MLB Draft,
respectively.
“What they really taught me is not only how to pitch, but also
the leadership they showed and the work ethic they brought every day,” Suggs
said.
The most impressive statistic in Suggs’ two seasons with the
Razorbacks is his 58 strikeouts in 59 innings.
“I just try to attack the strike zone and make quality pitches,”
Suggs said. “Whenever you make quality pitches, you’re going to miss some
barrels and are going to be able to strike some people out.”
None of his 58 strikeouts were as important as the last out
against Baylor in game three of the Super Regional, as it sent the Razorbacks
to their third College World Series in eight seasons.
Suggs replaced Trent Daniel after the eighth inning with the
game in a scoreless tie. After walking the first batter he faced, Suggs retired
three straight Bears to send the game into extra innings.
Arkansas picked up a run in the top of the 10th inning, making
them just three outs away from a trip to Omaha. Suggs again threw a scoreless
inning, clinching the victory.
“Joe and I could hardly breathe. I am always nervous (when he
pitches), but even Joe was nervous then,” Kerry said. “When they got that last
out, we let out a deep breath.”
“That was unbelievable,” Suggs said. “Just to be the guy that
they trusted at the end of the game to send the team to Omaha, that was a great
experience.”
A NEW SEASON
Entering his junior season, Suggs is no longer flying under the
radar.
He has been named a first-team preseason All-American by Baseball
America and Perfect Game. The National Collegiate Baseball
Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball have him as a third-team preseason
All-American.
MLB.com has Suggs listed as the No. 37 prospect for the 2013 MLB
Draft. He is also one of 75 players named to the watch list for the NCBWA
Stopper of the Year Award, which is given to the top relief pitcher in Division
I.
“He’s going to have another great year,” Hammack said. “He’s a
great young man and deserves all the accolades.”
With junior Barrett Astin beginning the season in the starting
rotation, Suggs should have an opportunity to be the Razorbacks’ closer. If
Astin is moved back into the bullpen, then Suggs will likely be a late-inning
relief pitcher, much like last season.
His high school coach said he thinks Suggs would excel as a
closer.
“I would like to see him in the closer role,” Hammack said. “He
has a closer mentality. He likes to come in when the game is on the line.”
Although he has gotten a lot of preseason recognition, he is
“not through working yet,” Suggs said.
No matter how the season turns out, his parents know he would
not want to be anywhere else.
“He
is living his dream to be an Arkansas Razorback,” Kerry said.
