06/01 at 11:29 PM

Austin Hubbard joked that he threw somewhere close to “8,000 sliders” in his 4 2/3-inning, Iron Man performance Thursday against South Carolina in the SEC Tournament.

His estimate was modest.

It probably felt like at least 10,000 to the Gamecock hitters who swung helplessly at sliders in the dirt, watched other sliders tail across the heart of the plate and failed to do anything significant with Hubbard’s trademark over his 69-pitch, winning effort.

“I’m not sure what the scouting report is,” Hubbard said. “I know I throw it a lot, so they might know it’s coming.”

It hasn’t helped.

Hubbard, who will be fresh and ready for the Tigers’ NCAA regional matchup with Jacksonville State on Friday, has been Auburn’s top lockdown option out of a much-improved bullpen this season. Averaging more than 1.3 strikeouts per inning, Hubbard carries a team-best 1.96 earned run average, ranks fourth behind three starters with five wins and fourth in the SEC with nine saves.

He’s done it by being predictable with an entirely unpredictable pitch.

“It does completely different things every time,” centerfielder Trent Mummey said.

“It’s definitely a tough pitch to lay off even if you know it’s coming.”

Gripped like a curveball but thrown like a fastball, the slider is unique to the pitcher who throws it.

For some, it’s more a replication of a curveball, breaking over the outside corner of the plate or well outside the strike zone with velocities in the mid-80s that significantly differentiates it from a fastball.

For retired Major League pitcher Randy Johnson, it was simply “Mr. Snappy,” a lethal pitch with lateral movement that sometimes arrived at home plate with more velocity than his fastball.

Hubbard’s slider doesn’t have a nickname and it’s not clocking triple digits on the radar gun, but the key to its success lies in its ability to remain unrecognizable until it’s far too late.

“The arm action and the angle of the ball out of his hand are the exact same on his fastball and his slider,” first baseman Hunter Morris said. “If
you’re swinging at a fastball and it happens to be a slider, it just disappears and you have no idea what you swung at.”

Hubbard added the slider to his repertoire in 10th grade, when Homewood High coach Keith Brown introduced it to his ace starter. Hubbard used it to average nearly two strikeouts per inning en route to setting a school record with 99 for his senior season.

When Hubbard was switched from a starter to a reliever during his sophomore season at Auburn, he didn’t change a thing, both in his pitch selection and persona.

“I’m not the stereotypical closer,” Hubbard said. “I listen to regular music, chill music.”

Having a lights-out strikeout pitch, though, makes Hubbard every bit of the stereotype.

What the cut fastball is to New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, or the changeup is to Trevor Hoffman, the slider is to Hubbard.

Alone, it’s a good pitch, dipping, diving and — pardon the redundancy — sliding where he wants it on his best days. Mixed in with a fastball, which clocks a few miles per hour higher on the radar gun, and a breaking ball, its value grows exponentially.

“He’s smart enough to throw it different ways, and he knows the situations when he needs to throw it in the dirt and the situation where he needs to throw it as a strike,” catcher Ryan Jenkins said. “You have a great pitch, but if you don’t know how to use it, it’s no good.”

Jenkins and Tony Caldwell have allowed Hubbard to throw the pitch with confidence, even when there are potential runs 90 feet from home plate.

To add further value to the pitch, Hubbard will purposely bury some sliders in the dirt, especially during favorable counts when a hitter locks into “protect mode.”

When South Carolina put the winning run on third base on two separate occasions against Hubbard, he didn’t deviate from that plan, bouncing a handful of pitches nearly 5 feet in front of home plate that sometimes didn’t make it into Jenkins’ glove.

“Ryan got some new bruises,” pitching coach Scott Foxhall said. “He did a good job blocking them and keeping the runs from scoring from third base. That’s a big part of the equation.”

The slider, though, is at the beginning and the end of that formula.

“(Hitters) have to make a quick decision,” Foxhall said. “Fortunately for us, most of the time they make the wrong decision.”

Luckie to start Friday
Auburn coach John Pawlowski talked during Tuesday’s practice about the importance of keeping things “normal” heading into this weekend’s NCAA regional at Plainsman Park.

He’s embraced that mentality and applied it toward his pitching rotation, slating left-hander Cory Luckie for Friday night’s game against Jacksonville State. Luckie was Auburn’s first starter at last week’s SEC Tournament and started eight of Auburn’s 10 Friday night games this season.

“We looked at all of our options, and we felt like that’s what we’ve done all year,” Pawlowski said. “We’re going to stay the course. He’s done a great job for us and certainly deserves that opportunity.”

The decision all but guarantees that Grant Dayton, who allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings against South Carolina on Thursday, will start Saturday against Clemson or Southern Miss. Dayton led the Tigers with eight wins this season, seven of which came in SEC play.

Luckie, though, hasn’t been a slouch. He picked up the loss Wednesday against Alabama, but his effort would have been good enough for a win on a typical day. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) with six strikeouts.

“Obviously, Cory and Grant have been the most consistent starters we’ve had this year,” Pawlowski said.
Jacksonville State (32-24) will start its ace, right-hander Austin Lucas. He went 6-0 this year with a 4.97 ERA.

Morris named Golden Spikes semifinalist
Hunter Morris has been named one of 30 semifinalists for the 2010 Golden Spikes Award.

Already named the 2010 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and placed on the Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist list, Morris helped lead Auburn to a 40-19 record and a SEC Western Division Championship.

Heading into this weekend’s NCAA Regionals he leads the SEC in slugging percentage (.752), hits (98), home runs (21) and total bases (188), is third in batting average (.392) and triples (five), fourth with 61 runs scored and 17 doubles and eighth in on base percentage.

Morris is one of three players from the SEC named a semifinalist, joining Zach Cox of Arkansas and Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss.

For the third year in a row, GoldenSpikesAward.com will be the online home for the award. The website features content devoted exclusively to the GAS, including news, voting history, past-winner photo galleries and photographs and video highlights for the 2010 semifinalists.

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