Bryan Bullington

Bullington was drafted in the 37th round of that year's Major League draft by the Kansas City Royals, but decided not to sign and attended college instead.

He was recruited by Ball State, Purdue, Evansville, and Indiana.

Bullington decided to follow both his parents and older sister in attending Ball State.

During his freshman season, an injury to staff ace Justin Wechsler allowed Bullington to become the Friday night starter.

He went 9–4 with a 3.83 ERA during his freshman year, tallying a Mid-American Conference season-high 99 strikeouts.

He was named the MAC Freshman of the Year and received first-team all-conference honors.

Bryan Paul Bullington (born September 30, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

During his senior year at Madison Consolidated High School, Bullington was 15–0, and pitched a one-hit game to win the 1999 Indiana High School Athletic Association Baseball State Finals.

Bullington was named Mr. Baseball for the state of Indiana in 1999; an award presented annually to the best high school baseball player in Indiana.

With Bullington atop The Rotation, the Cardinals put together a great 2001 season, going 21–5 in the Mid-American Conference and winning the regular season title.

Bullington went 9–3 during the regular season with a conference-best 3.01 ERA, and was honored as a unanimous choice for MAC's Pitcher of the Year, becoming the first Cardinal to win the award.

Bullington started the Cardinals opening game of the conference tournament against Miami University, but was removed in the first inning after being struck in the face by a line drive off the bat of Brady Nori.

The Cardinals were upset by the RedHawks 13–5.

Despite his injury, Bullington came back and pitched 3 days later in their semi-final game against Kent State.

He was tagged for 10 hits and 7 runs over 6 innings, taking the loss and eliminating the Cardinals from the tournament.

Despite his rough finish, he ended the season with a 9–4 record and a 3.50 ERA.

Most notably, his 119 strikeouts on the season led the conference once again and broke Ball State's all-time single season strikeout record.

He went on to pitch for the U.S. National Team that summer.

Coming into his junior season, Bullington was touted as one of the best collegiate pitchers in the country.

Bullington was the first overall selection in the 2002 Major League Baseball draft.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, and Kansas City Royals.

He also played in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Hiroshima Carp and the Orix Buffaloes.

He finished the season leading the MAC in wins, ERA, strikeouts, and innings pitched for the 2002 season.

He recorded double-digit strikeouts in 8 of his starts.

He was once again named the MAC's Pitcher of the Year, becoming the first player to win the honor in consecutive seasons, and received first-team all-conference honors for the third consecutive season.

Nationally, he was unanimously recognized as a First-Team All-American and named a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy.

After being drafted first overall, he decided to forgo his senior season and sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He left Ball State as the winningest pitcher in school history.

He still holds the school records for most career wins (29), most single-season strikeouts (139), most career strikeouts (357), and tied for most single-season wins (11).

Despite the rough outing though, it was enough to earn him his career-high 11th win of the season, thanks to 16 runs of support.

Bullington finished 11–3 with a conference-best ERA of 2.86 for the year, and broke his own single season strikeout record with 139 strikeouts.

In his third start of the season, he tossed 8 strong innings in a winning effort over the defending National Champion and 17th ranked Miami Hurricanes.

On May 3, Bullington struck out a career-high 15 batters against Eastern Michigan, surpassing Bob Owchinko for the most career strikeouts in MAC history.

He allowed only 5 hits and a run over 8 innings en route to his 9th win of the season.

He finished the regular season with a 10–2 mark and a conference-best 2.11 ERA.

Bullington and the Cardinals were seeded 4th in the conference tournament and slated to face Kent State in their opening game.

For the second consecutive year though, the Golden Flashes had Bullington's number in the tournament, scoring 6 runs off him in the first inning on their way to a 13–4 win.

The Cardinals went on to advance to the championship, where they met undefeated Kent State again 3 days later.

In an effort to avoid a repeat of the first game, Coach Rich Maloney chose to bring Bullington out of the bullpen in relief.

Bullington entered the game in the 4th inning and allowed 5 runs over 6 innings.