Upon his hiring as Clemson Baseball coach Erik Bakich pledged to dominate the state in recruiting and while that may take some time to come to fruition, the former Michigan head man is off to a good start.
On Tuesday, 2024 Mount Pleasant (SC) baseball prospect Briggs Sullivan announced a commitment to Clemson.
Perfect Game ranks Sullivan as a 9 (of 10) on their scale, projecting him as a potential top 10 round prospect/highest level of college prospect.
The 6’2, 187 pound Sullivan is listed as a middle infielder/outfielder by the organization.
Sullivan becomes the 12th commitment to the Class of 2024 for the Tigers and fifth from the state of South Carolina, along with Dion Brown of York, Steele Burd of Hilton Head, Trevion McFarland of Hartsville and Isaac Pena of Lancaster.
The 2023 Clemson class has 15 players in it currently with 5 of those coming from the state of South Carolina: Jackson Cole of Boiling Springs, Ty Marshall of Cayce, Jacob McGovern of Seneca, Devin Parks of Fort Mill and Jackson Proctor of Moncks Corner.
Clemson’s 2022 class was heavy on players from South Carolina and was ranked 14th, losing two players to the MLB Draft.
Perfect Game shows Clemson’s 2023 class is currently ranked 18th, while the 2024 class is currently 31st, though there is plenty of time for that to improve.
Bakich is replacing Monte Lee, whose team could not capitalize on a 14-0 start, struggled to a 21-23 finish and after an embarrassing performance at the ACC Tournament missed the postseason for a second straight season.
It may take Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich to fulfill his pledge to dominate the state of South Carolina in recruiting, but he’s working on it
Lee finished his Clemson tenure with a 242-136 record, 4 NCAA Regional appearances and the 2016 ACC Tournament Championship.
Bakich spent 10 seasons at Michigan, going 328-216 and reaching the NCAA College World Series runners up in 2019 with a 50-22 record.
Michigan finished 5th in the Big 10 in 2022 with a 34-28 overall record and 12-12 in conference and participated in an NCAA Regional.