AUBURN, Ala. – Hal Baird answered the question before Andy Burcham finished asking it, evoking the names of three of baseball's finest hitters from the past half-century.
"If you have to get a hit," the announcer asked the former Auburn baseball coach in a recent Talking Tigers Podcast, "to tie a ballgame…."
"Jay Waggoner," Baird responded immediately, needing no further variables. "Jay Waggoner."
Auburn's all-time hits leader, Waggoner played for Baird's Auburn Tigers from 1992-95, helping lead the '94 team to the College World Series.
"Jay Waggoner was as clutch - if a single or a double was needed to win a game or a championship, Jay was the guy you wanted at home plate," Baird said. "He was Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs wrapped into a college player."
Baird recalled an occasion when Auburn trailed by a run with two outs in the ninth at LSU with the SEC Western Division championship on the line. Waggoner delivered a triple to clinch the title for the visiting Tigers.
"He did it over and over and over again," Baird said. "You just got used to it."
Auburn's all-time hits leader, Waggoner's 341 career base hits are tied for No. 4 in in SEC history. He ranks among Auburn's top 10 in batting average, doubles, triples, walks, runs and total bases, and first in singles.
Omaha bound: 1994 Auburn Tigers
'LET'S GO TO OMAHA'
A middle infielder at Birmingham's Vestavia Hills High School for legendary coach Sammy Dunn, Waggoner found a home at third base on the Plains as a freshman in 1992.
Overconfidence, Jay recalls, was not a problem, especially his first day of batting practice.
"The sound is just different, the ball is just coming off the bat harder," he said. "I remember having the thought, 'How in the world did I get here, and what am I doing here?' You just want to kind of hide."
Upperclassman Brannon Veal offered welcoming, encouraging mentorship.
"He was the guy who made me believe that I belonged," Waggoner said.
With tutoring from Baird and hitting coach Steve Renfroe, Waggoner's confidence grew.
"He and Coach Baird were just such a good complement to one another. Such good people, great influences, great to be around, and they recruited good people. You just slowly start to believe, okay, maybe I do have a place here," Waggoner said. "Maybe I can do that."
Waggoner and in-state classmate and teammate Ken Key made a pact.
"I remember distinctly us talking about, 'Hey, let's go to Omaha. There's no reason we can't do that,'" Waggoner said.
As juniors, they made good on that pledge, leading Auburn back to the College World Series for the first time since 1976.
"Those were really magical days," he said. "I try to describe to people how great my four years at Auburn were, and you just can't get the right words. They were just so magical."
Waggoner batted .409 in '94, recording 119 hits, an SEC record that lasted eight seasons.
"We just had a lot of role players and a lot of tough guys, a lot of competitive guys," he said. "We didn't have a ton of people who were worried about their draft status. I was never worried about it. I hit .400 my junior year and didn't get drafted as a draft-eligible player, if that tells you how scouts graded my toolset."
DIAMOND DOLL
As many memories as Waggoner made at Plainsman Park, his most lasting impact began in class at nearby Parker Hall, where Jay met his future wife, Courtney.
They had been introduced a month earlier when Courtney tried out for Diamond Dolls. Jay served on the interview panel.
"I was walking into class and there she was," he recalled. "I walked up to her and I said, 'Hey, do you remember me? I interviewed you for Diamond Dolls.' She said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Well, how are you enjoying it?' She said, 'Well, I actually didn't make it.' Ooh, well, we're not off to the best start."
Jay and Courtney overcame that awkward beginning.
"We ended up striking up a dialogue and about four years later, we were married," he said.
Married in August 1997, they'll celebrate their 23rd anniversary this summer.
At their home in Roswell, Georgia, the Waggoners are raising three Auburn-loving children, 15-year-old daughter Graylyn, 12-year-old son Walker, and 8-year-old daughter Mary Briggs.
A civil engineering graduate from Auburn University's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Waggoner works in technology sales for Amazon Web Services.
"I live in the cloud," said Jay, who sells cloud storage to help large companies manage their data.
PROUD ALUM
Among every player to have ever worn an Auburn baseball uniform, none has played in more games than Waggoner's 246, an investment of effort that yielded a lifetime of loyalty.
"I'm an Auburn fanatic. As somebody who poured a lot of myself into that program for four years, it's very satisfying to see what they're doing," said Waggoner, who serves on a Tigers Unlimited development board for Auburn baseball.
"Starting to see the tangible results of some of that effort coming out of the ground in right field now," he said. "Could not be more excited about that staff with Tim and Gabe and Karl. What an amazing guy Butch is. Everybody I talked to when they talked about bringing him on, I know a lot of people still in baseball, and every one of them spoke so highly of him. He's proven to be every bit what his reputation suggested he would be.
"My experience was so great. I want other kids to have that same experience. I want kids when they come to Auburn to have that kind of experience, and I believe they are now."
Auburn's steady progress under Butch Thompson mirrors the Tigers' run during Waggoner's playing days, with both resulting in a trip to Omaha.
"I just can't believe how fast he's done it," Waggoner said. "What he's done and how quickly he's done it, it's just amazing.
"I believe the next decade is going to be better than what the decade of the '90s was for Auburn baseball. It was pretty special in the '90s. I think they're building something that really is going to be special. It already is.
"Just seeing them play hard and compete, believing in themselves, making that program something, is just really special. It's amazing in 25 years what Auburn has become."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer