From left, From left, former players Nick Sinacola, Ben Rice (current New York Yankee first baseman), Mariano Ricciardi, Cam Cook and Ryan Sullivan pose with their awards after getting inducted into the Future Baseball League Hall of Fame on Saturday night at Rivier. (Courtesy photo by Erin Stanton/Rivier University)

NASHUA — Baseball has taken Ryan Sullivan all over New England, but when he looks back on his career, he considers Nashua home. On Saturday night, former Nashua Silver Knight Sullivan returned home to be inducted in the Futures League Hall of Fame.

Sullivan was one of five former players to be inducted into the Futures Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Rivier University, a group that also includes former Silver Knight player and current general manager Cam Cook.

Sullivan spent five seasons in the Futures League with the Silver Knights between 2013-17. He played in a league-record 185 regular season games and 17 postseason games, and is also the league’s all-time leader in regular-season career at-bats (682), RBI (145), hits (199), total bases (351) and doubles (41). He is second in home runs (37) and extra-base hits (78), and third in runs scored (109). He was crucial to Nashua’s back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017, winning the Postseason Most Valuable Player award in 2016 after hitting .444 with two homers, eight RBI and five runs over six playoff games. His 12 playoff hits in 2016 are the most in league history. He also holds career postseason records in RBI (20), total hits (25) and total bases (42).

“I went from UConn to Bunker Hill Community College for a semester, and then I ended up at Southern New Hampshire University for three years. Nashua was always home,” Sullivan said. “That was home base. I would always look forward to going to summers there, the people that were involved with the organization, the players.”

More memories came flooding back when Sullivan entered Rivier’s Dion Center. The first person he saw was Silver Knight superfan Steve “Mad Dog” Northrup.

Northrup was honored by the Silver Knights as a Hometown Hero. This was the first year that each team awarded a fan as a Hometown Hero in recognition of their support to their local team. Northrup, who accepted his award with his signature bark before returning to his seat, was noted as a super fan who attended every home game, followed the Silver Knights bus to away series’ and, with drum and air horn in tow, rally Nashua’s fans, with an occasional banishment to left field, Commissioner Joe Paolucci joked.

Northrup and the rest of the Nashua fans are what made summers with Futures baseball so special for Sullivan.

Sullivan made sure to note “Really how much I appreciate the Nashua fans,” he said in an interview prior to the ceremony. “They built their own reputation. There’s a lot of different characters and they were super supportive. They made a bunch of Division II, III college kids feel like they were in playoff games in the bigs.”

Cook, who was Sullivan’s teammate on the 2016 and 2017 championship seasons, recalls stepping out of the dugout at Holman Stadium in his first home game as a Silver Knight to 1,200 fans in attendance. During the panel with all of the inductees, moderated by Eagle Tribune executive sports editor Bill Burt, Cook noted how special that support was, especially coming from a D-III program at Nichols College.

Cook hit .378 with 107 hits in 75 career regular-season games. He had 81 hits in over 50 games in 2017, a single-season record that still stands.

Before receiving their award and heading up the stage, a video was presented showcasing each player with footage from their playing days. Sullivan’s showed several home runs over Holman’s left field wall, while Cook’s was a montage of line drives and bloopers into center field to bring home runs, including one with Sullivan.

But like Sullivan, Cook commented on how meaningful his Silver Knights experience was. Not only is the club his employer, it’s also where he met his wife, who was interning with the organization during his playing days.

Former Vermont Lake Monsters manager Pete Wilk was inducted posthumously. His family was on hand and the former longtime Georgetown University head coach contributed greatly to the league.

Three other inductees – former Worcester Braveheart player Mariano Ricciardi, former Brockton Rox player Nick Sinacola and former Worcester Braveheart and current New York Yankee Ben Rice – all had, or still currently have, professional baseball careers.

But for Sullivan and Cook, Futures baseball in Nashua was their pinnacle. “This was my minor league,” Cook said.

Sinacola is a pitcher in the San Francisco Giants minor league system, while Ricciardi was drafted by the Oakland A’s in 2021 and spent three years as a pro.

Rice, who recently finished his second season as a Yankees first baseman, gave Futures baseball credit for being able to get drafted at all. The Futures league was one of the few that operated in 2020 due to COVID and being able to get a full summer of plate appearances gave him opportunities to get scouted, opportunities that so many of his peers never had.

As general manager of the Silver Knights, Cook is still very connected to baseball. Sullivan, who now lives in Worcester, works for HitTrax, a company that sells and installs products that are training tools and data trackers for baseball and softball players (think virtual golf simulators, but for baseball).

All five inductees talked about the lifelong bonds that are formed in those summers playing Futures ball. Now that he’s fully transitioned to “civilian life,” as he puts it, Sullivan plans on coming back for Silver Knight games on a more regular basis.

“(This is) my place,” Sullivan said. “This call came out of nowhere. Getting the call from the commissioner that I was getting inducted brought back a lot of good memories.”