PITTSBURGH— Only 27, Cory Sullivan still has most of his major league career in front of him.

What's behind him doesn't look so bad, either.

Since joining the Colorado Rockies two years ago, the North Allegheny graduate has done the following:

• Doubled off of Trevor Hoffman — baseball's all-time saves leader — for his first major league hit on Opening Day 2005.

• Returned home to hit his first major league home run as a pinch hitter against the Pirates' Rick White at PNCPark on May 20 of that season.

• Became one of eight players in major league history to produce four sacrifice hits in a game on June 14, 2006.

• Became one of 11 players in history to hit two triples in one inning when he turned that trick on April 9 of last year.

"I've done some pretty cool stuff,"Sullivan said. "It's always fun to find yourself in the record book."

It's not so fun to find yourself sent to Class AAAafter two years as a starting center fielder for a big league team.

Sullivan hit .294 with 12 stolen bases for the Rockies as a rookie in 2005. He batted .267 with 26 doubles, 10 triples and 10 more stolen bases last year and seemed firmly entrenched in Colorado's outfield despite missing all of the 2004 season.

He underwent Tommy John surgery on March 15, 2004.

"I was a pitcher all the way up to my senior year in college,"Sullivan said. "All that wear and tear — I guess my arm finally gave out.

"The original prognosis was 12 to 18 months. But I rehabbed hard and was back in 5Z\x months."

He played in the Arizona Fall League that year, which helped give him the opportunity to make the Rockies' roster in spring training of 2005. Sullivan was the team's every day center fielder by midseason.

That status suddenly changed this past offseason, when the Rockies acquired fleet-footed center fielder Willy Taveras in a trade with Houston.

Sullivan found himself out of the starting lineup. In late March, he found himself out of Denver as well, as the team optioned him to Class AAAColorado Springs.

"Sure, I was disappointed initially,"he said. "But if you get down mentally, this game will eat you alive.

"I never changed my approach to the game. My mind-set was to just work hard and get back up here."

In 53 games with the SkySox, Sullivan hit .262 with one homer and 21 RBI. Those are modest numbers overall, but he batted .559 (19 for 34) during a 10-game hitting streak, forcing the Rockies to recall him on June 15.

Since then, he's played in only 17 games — five as a starter — but was hitting .406 (13 for 32) before going hitless in four at bats Wednesday during Colorado's 5-3 win over the Pirates at PNCPark.

Sullivan has five hits in 12 at-bats as a pinch-hitter since his recall.

"Whatever my role is, I'm ready for it,"he said. "Being a bench player or an every day player, the approach is the same. I had this role when I first came up, backing up Preston Wilson in center."

This week marked Sullivan's fourth trip into PNCPark as a major league player. He batted .460 during his senior year at North Allegheny, helping the Tigers win the state championship.

"Iremember playing in some all-star game at Three Rivers Stadium when I was 14,"he said. "I saw a lot of games at Three Rivers when I was a kid.

"It's always special coming back here. A lot of friends and family come down to see me play."

Sullivan may have never gotten a shot at playing professional baseball had it not been for high school teammate Justin Ross, who helped hook him up with Cypress Junior College in California.

"He was a roommate with the coach's son,"Sullivan said. "One thing led to another and I went out there to play."

Undrafted out of high school, Sullivan hit .360 and .429 in two years at Cypress before transferring to Wake Forest, where he led off all 124 of the Demon Deacons' games in 2000 and 2001.

He compiled a career .382 batting average at Wake Forest and was MVPof the ACCTournament his senior year. The Rockies selected him in the seventh round of that June's amateur draft.

"Justin's family and my family have always been good friends. You never know how things are gonna work out,"Sullivan said. "I'm grateful for all of it."