OMAHA | As the season’s gone on, Ryan Watson has found himself in a bigger and bigger role.
The junior has been an important piece in Auburn’s bullpen down the stretch, going 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA and eight strikeouts in 7.1 innings in his last four appearances.
“I’m just coming in trying to give my team a chance to win — keep the ball down, force weak contact and let the defense work behind me,” Watson said. “We have a great infield and great outfield, really solid defense. If I just let them do their job, I can do mine and give our team a chance to win.”
There was a time earlier this season when it was unclear if Watson would have an important role out of AU’s bullpen. He gave up five runs in one inning at Mississippi State March 23 and midway through May he was 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA.
“I think Ryan has survived a lot of adversity in the baseball world. I think his confidence has grown,” pitching coach Steve Smith said. “He made a little bit of a change at the end of last year and went off in the summer and had a chance to develop it. I think that’s really when he started coming around.
“The season has forced us to give first, second, third and fourth chances, and you know what, he’s gotten his opportunities here and he’s starting to take advantage of them.”
Watson changed his motion last year to throw from a lower slot. But he was still having trouble against left-handed hitters up until the last month.
“The other thing he’s done is figure out how to pitch to left-handers. I think that bit him the midway part of the season,” Smith said. “We’ve taken a pretty aggressive coach to get a plan so that he’s got a chance to get left-handers out.
"We get to the Coastal Carolina game in that Regional, he struck out two or three left-handers on fastballs up and in, which is a totally different approach than he had been doing earlier in the year. It’s a lot of growing and just growing confidence-wise in learning how to pitch with the kind of stuff he has.”
Heading into Sunday’s game against Mississippi State in the College World Series, Watson has become a key right-handed reliever and could be called upon in a key moment.
“It’s a blessing. It’s a dream come true,” Watson said “You dream about a moment like this all your life and for us to be here is just amazing.”
First pitch at TD Ameritrade Stadium is scheduled for Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
NEXT MAN UP: Left-hander Brook Fuller hasn’t pitched since a tough outing against LSU in the SEC Tournament in which he allowed the winning run to score on a wild pitch. But the freshman is still an important part of the staff either as a starter or reliever, and was close to pitching in both the Atlanta Regional and Chapel Hill Super Regional.
“That could’ve been him or (Richard) Fitts we wound up shortening and using, and you know, by being able to go 3-0 in the regional he’s probably one of the next guy up or two if we had to go past (Cody) Greenhill, but guys have done their job on the mound recently and he’s been sitting on deck,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said.
ROOMY PARK: TD Ameritrade is a big park for baseball, 408 feet to center, 375 in the power alleys and 335 down both lines. There’s also a lot of foul territory behind the catcher and to the side of both baselines. Auburn spent extra time during Friday’s practice catching foul pop-ups.
“In between the 375’s the ball really doesn’t get out that much,” Auburn assistant coach Karl Nonemaker said. “We didn’t hit a lot of home runs this year so I think playing in a little bit bigger park probably helps us out. The ball will still get out down the lines, and if you look at the Regionals and the balls that we hit out have been down the line. It’s still going to baseball but if we’re playing a team that really relies in the long ball, it can’t hurt playing in a park that’s not quite as friendly to fly balls.”
BUTCH MAKES HIS PITCH: Thompson is looking for a little extra help from the locals during the CWS. “We're the underdog,” Thompson said. “We are a great team to root for for any people in Omaha trying to adopt a ball club, with being the first time. It's a neat story, and Gregg Olson is one of our greatest players that chose Auburn from being right here in Omaha, Nebraska. So maybe that's another good reason to pull for us, too.”
QUICK NOTES:
** The pitching matchup for Sunday’s game: Auburn So. LHP Jack Owen (4-2, 2.83) vs. Mississippi State R-Jr. Ethan Small (10-2, 1.76).
** Auburn is the fourth athletic program all-time to win a bowl game and advance to both the Final Four and College World Series in the same season. The other programs include Kansas (1992-93), Texas (2002-03) and Louisville (2012-13).
** The Tigers are 5-1 in the NCAA Tournament this season and have outscored their opponents 51-29 while hitting .314 as a team in the tournament. Entering the tournament, the team had scored 42 runs in its previous 11 games.
** Auburn became the first team to defeat North Carolina in a Chapel Hill Super Regional. The Tar Heels had won each of the previous six super regionals they had hosted.
** The Tigers are 11-5 in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Butch Thompson and have advanced to the tournament in three straight seasons for the first time since 2001-03.
** Auburn has won 37 or more games in three straight seasons for the first time since 1999-2001.
** The Tigers will practice at Creighton Saturday evening in their final workout before Sunday night’s game.
** Along with AU and MSU, Vanderbilt and Arkansas are also in Omaha giving the SEC four teams in the College World Series for the fourth time in history. The SEC also sent four teams in 1997, 2004 and 2015.
