Hunter Gilliam: From Longwood Walk-On to Kentucky's Captain
Amidst a frigid morning in the fall of 2012, somewhere deep in the heart of rural Virginia, 13-year-old Hunter Gilliam stood in disbelief as a bullet entered his leg.
"Dad...he shot me."
"Come on man, don't joke about that," said Gilliam's father, who was still unaware that he was moments away from having to rush his son to the hospital. Hunter frantically peeled multiple layers of clothes he was wearing, eventually getting down to his thermal tights, where he saw blood pouring out of the entry wound right above his knee.
It was simply a miscommunication between Gilliam and one of his hunting partners. A deer was moving its way into the right spot, which just so happened to be in the same line as Gilliam, who was camped out further down the path. Neither knew where the other was, nearly leading to disaster.
Luckily, the bullet missed an artery by millimeters. Doctors then left the bullet inside of Gilliam, who was back up and walking in just a couple of days time. It hasn't bothered him since.
That's one of the many memories he has of growing up in Farmville and Buckingham, two small settlements that formed an eventual hometown hero on the baseball diamond.
Now 23, Gilliam still remembers his answer as a third-grader when asked the question "what do you want to do after school?"
"Play baseball at Longwood," he wrote down.
Holding an average enrollment of about 5,000 students, Longwood University sits on 154 acres in Farmville, just five minutes from Gilliam's house. He drove by Buddy Bolding Stadium — Longwood baseball's home park — on a daily basis. It wasn't very often that he wasn't in attendance when the Lancers had a home game.
Dawning blue and gray was the dream from day one. From grinding through his competitive youth league, all the way up to his four years of high school at The Fuqua School, Longwood was right around the corner, literally and metaphorically.
As a 10th-grader, Gilliam realized his goal and committed to Longwood, where he'd eventually come as a walk-on. While he wasn't a highly sought-after prospect, he still had options to go elsewhere on scholarship. Nowhere else had the comfort of home, though.
"I could've gone other places, but Longwood was home," Gilliam said. "I was in a spot when I was in high school where all I wanted to do was hunt, so being able to be five minutes from my house and go to school and play baseball, it was a no-brainer for me."
Living the dream worked out pretty well, too. After becoming the school's Freshman Student Athlete of the Year in 2019, he went on to have a four-year career as a Lancer, playing in 162 games, batting .271, collecting 28 doubles, nine triples and 20 home runs. He drove in 104 runs and had an .809 OPS.
It didn't yield much winning, though. 2022 was the best of the seasons, but it still ended with a 20-33 record. Having the extra year of eligibility thanks to the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Gilliam gave leaving some serious thought. He knew he was good enough to go play in a big conference for a big program, but could he really leave a perfect scenario — the same one he had been dreaming about ever since he was a child?
After plenty of tossing and turning, the answer was yes.
Eventually, after Gilliam entered the transfer portal, Kentucky became an option. Soon after, a trip to Lexington and meetings with head coach Nick Mingione sealed the deal. The commitment to come play in the SEC was a big one, and it meant Gilliam would have to say some hard goodbyes to his former coaches and teammates, but he knew what he had to do.
"The portal, the whole process was scary. But, I always say that i'm gonna bet on myself, i've done that my whole life. I've always wanted to play in the SEC, Kentucky gave me an opportunity to play here and I couldn't pass that up," he said. "But it was definitely tough, because the coach at Longwood is like my second dad, so leaving him and leaving some of my boys on the team was hard, but you only get one chance to do this."
With just one season left at his disposal, Gilliam has done everything in his power to balance staying focused on his craft while also soaking in the atmosphere and true change of pace that has come with his new scenery.
Joining a hoard of other players that were brought in via the portal, Gilliam and the 2023 Wildcats have become one of the biggest surprises in college baseball, surpassing all expectations, currently owning a 30-9 record and a spot in the top 25, that at one point reached No. 10.
Gilliam has been at the helm of it all, slashing .361/.436/.604 in 38 games played, belting eight home runs and 10 more extra-base hits, propelling him to a team-high 53 RBIs. Kentucky coaches tweaked his hitting mechanics, ditching the leg kick he came to the Bluegrass with in favor of a no-stride swing that allows him more time to see the ball coming from the pitcher.
Perhaps more valuable than his statistics and pop at the plate, though, is his grinder mentality and leadership that has become infectious throughout the UK locker room.
"They call him Cap...Cap'n Gilliam. He's one of our vocal leaders. He's the guy that he can impact the game in a lot of ways," Mingione said. "He's a leader, man, you can just see it."
Never short of words of encouragement when patting his mitt at first base, always chipper in the dugout, it's hard to spot Gilliam without a smile on his face. It comes from a place of love, but also a place of doing anything in his power to help his team win.
"I've embraced leadership my whole life. I feel like you lead by example, and the work ethic I have is pretty top-notch. I hate losing more than I enjoy winning. So I feel like that's kind of where that whole mentality came from is, you know, I hate being unsuccessful," Gilliam said. "The only way to be successful in this game is to grind, so I feel like that's kind of where that mindset came in."
The combination of success and happiness has made for a beautiful partnership between Gilliam and Kentucky. It's also led to him becoming a fan-favorite amongst Big Blue Nation.
"BBN is the coolest thing i've ever experienced. It gives me chill bumps thinking about those diehard fans who just love seeing us succeed and play," he said.
That's in-turn led to BBN spreading up to Gilliam's hometown. Despite not being in-tune with the Wildcats just a few months prior, Farmville has seen an uptick in blue and white, as they continue to support their homegrown kid making a name for himself on a big stage.
"Before I came here, I don't think Kentucky was a big, known thing in the town. Now, you go home and my buddies are sending me pictures of people walking around with Kentucky hats and t-shirts on, i'm like 'man, that's unbelievable.' The whole town watches our games now. They're all listening on radio. It's pretty cool," he said. "I'm trying to soak in everything. My main goal is to make as big of an impact on the people here as I can make, because they've had such a huge impact on me. I have to take advantage of it."
And you can't forget arguably the best part about Lexington for Gilliam: Hunting is still on the table. Despite taking a bullet around a decade ago, his thrill for nabbing deer and turkeys remains his favorite thing outside of hunting baseballs. It's a little different in Kentucky than Virginia, but he'll make do:
"I always tell my buddies that hitting a home run and killing a turkey is about the only thing that can get me that excited in the whole world. When the turkey's gobblin' and when I hit a homer are the only times I get that peak feeling of 'this is it.'"
With four weeks left in the regular season, Kentucky is on track to snap its five-year NCAA Tournament drought and is currently in line to host a Regional. While it may be surprising to some, it isn't to Gilliam. He's had real faith from the moment he took the field with his new crew.
"We were playing in the fall and I would call my friends back home and i'm like 'dude, we're the best team in America.' You know, they laugh at you or whatever, but now we're a top team in the country and they're hitting me up saying 'bro, you weren't lying,'" he said.
Becoming a Wildcat has been everything Gilliam hoped it would be and more. "The people in Lexington have treated me so unbelievably well, i'm gonna bleed blue and white for the rest of my life," he said. "They made this place feel like home for a kid who had never been away from home."
From a hometown walk-on to SEC standout, the story is as good as it gets. Gilliam just played against No. 1 LSU in front of over 11,00 fans at Alex Box Stadium — more people than the entire population of Farmville.
Reflection may be fun, but Gilliam isn't really paying it any mind. He knows the time on his college career is ticking. He's got a job to finish with his brothers — preferably at the College World Series.
"You can either be excited or nervous. I'm gonna choose excited. We get ourselves prepared for these atmospheres, we look forward to that, because Omaha is gonna be loud, too."
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