Metea’s Cade Sullivan is the first mustang to be selected as an All State athlete. Sullivan is also the spotlight of our final Player Profile, presented by Edgewood Clinical Services.
Mighty Mustangs
Despite the fact that Metea Valley baseball has never won a conference championship and has only one regional title in its trophy case from back in 2012, the Mustang baseball program has developed many top tier players.
Whether it was Cincinnati Reds draft pick Ashton Creal, Division I players like Jack Szott or All State selections like Connor Lovely and Jake Kmiecik, Metea Valley baseball has always been a tough out due to the talent on the roster.
But no Mustang ballplayer has ever received the amount of accolades after his first three seasons like senior Cade Sullivan.
A varsity team member since his freshman season in 2017, Sullivan is Metea’s first back-to-back All-State selection, honored by both the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association and Prep Baseball Report as a sophomore in 2018 and in 2019. Playing mainly third base, Sullivan has posted prolific numbers at the plate throughout his MV career.
Sullivan first began to turn heads in his first ever post season game against rival Waubonsie Valley. The young third baseman showed tremendous poise, going 3-3 with 4 RBI in the 9-6 Mustang win.
In 2018, the 6’4 righty hit .477 with 14 doubles and drove in 37 runs for the Mustangs. As a junior, Sullivan added long ball power to his arsenal, hitting .463 with 8 home runs, 31 RBI and a .571 on-base percentage. With numbers like that, college scouts soon came calling and on November 13th, 2019 Cade Sullivan officially signed to play college baseball at Western Michigan University.
Spring Shutdown
Unfortunately for the spring sport athletes in the state of Illinois, the 2020 high school spring sports season was canceled before Sullivan and his Mustang teammates were even able to play a game. Metea was eager to begin the era of new head coach Steve Columbe after longtime head coach Craig Tomczak’s retirement. With this year’s roster, the team had good reason to be excited, as Patrick Straub, Tyler Bayless, Will Mueller and Noah Bradshaw all joined Cade Sullivan by signing to play baseball at the next level.
Despite the disappointing final chapter of Sullivan’s high school career, the Mustangs baseball program will be eagerly awaiting to see what the future holds for one of the best hitters to ever put on the black and gold.
For Naperville Sports Weekly, I’m Justin Cornwell.
Check out other Player Profiles in our NSW Athlete Page.
