ATLANTA – Rod Bramblett, the late Voice of the Auburn Tigers, might not have been in the visitor's radio booth at Georgia Tech on Saturday night, but his voice still echoed in the back of Auburn fans' heads when Steven Williams crushed a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
"I don't believe it. The Tigers win. Oh my goodness."
It probably sounded similar to the call Bramblett made when David Ross hit a walk-off home run to beat Florida State in the 1997 Tallahassee Regional. Not unlike Saturday's game, Auburn fell behind 7-1 to the Seminoles in that game. And like Williams, Ross was down to his last strike. But the backup catcher, who was only playing because of an injury that occurred that same tournament, became the hero with one swing of the bat.
For Williams, there was no injury that elevated him into the lineup – though Auburn head coach Butch Thompson admitted after the game that they considered a pinch hitter in that spot because of the lefty-lefty matchup and the fact that Williams was 0 for 3 on the night.
No, the story for Williams on Saturday night was a story of redemption.
"Night, night!"#WarEagle | #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/q9k0XrlcGP
— Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) June 2, 2019
Earlier in the game, Williams dropped a hard-hit fly ball that scored Georgia Tech's first run. The Yellow Jackets went on to score three more runs in the inning to take a 4-1 lead, and all four runs were unearned because of the error by Williams. It wasn't much better at the plate where the sophomore was hitless in three at-bats with a strikeout against Georgia Tech starter Connor Thomas.
Williams didn't give up, though. And neither did his teammates.
"We've been through a lot this season," he said. "We've had a lot of games where we've had to come from behind. We never thought we were out of it the whole entire game."
Down 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Conor Davis reached base on an error by the shortstop to start the inning. Then Will Holland was hit by a pitch. It wasn't conventional, but Auburn had two runners on and the tying run coming to the plate. Something was brewing.
The next two hitters followed with a fly out and a strikeout, but first basemen Rankin Woley kept the rally alive with a two-out single through the left side that scored a run. That brought Williams, whose defensive miscue opened the door for four Georgia Tech runs, to the plate. He was the only Auburn hitter who had not reached base to that point. Yet, with one swing of the bat, he became the hero.
"Steven could have popped up right there, and we could be trying to win three ball games," Thompson said. "That's where I feel like something special is going on. Baseball, it's that time of the year. You're going to see that around the country. It's amazing what these young people can do when they don't quit."
"That was my fourth at-bat off of him, and he had thrown everything he had at that point," added Williams. "Once I got to two strikes, I just wanted to see the ball as deep as I can. Fortunately, he hung a slider, and I was able to put a good swing on it."
A hanging slider. The same pitch Ross hit out 22 years ago. This postseason run has always been about more than baseball, and Saturday's walk-off home run was more evidence of that.
"We're definitely playing for something," Williams said after the victory. "All the things that have happened in the Auburn community, we're playing extremely passionate right now. I'm just really happy that we've come out on top in that kind of fashion."
Somewhere between getting mobbed at home plate by his teammates to getting a bucket of water dumped on him during a post-game TV interview, Williams found time to send out a tweet. It was simple. It read "War Eagle!!!!!!!!!" followed by "#doitforRod."
A fitting tribute to cap what was an unforgettable night.
War Eagle!!!!!!!!! #doitforRod
— Steven Williams (@swill_41) June 2, 2019
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf