Vaughn showed his toughness

CLEMSON — When asked about the attributes of Summerville native Matt Vaughn, the first quality to enter Kyle Bunn's mind was "toughness."

The lasting image will be of the right-hander's resiliency Monday.

Clemson's pitching coach will remember how Vaughn asked for the ball in the sixth inning and said he could finish it from there against Oklahoma State. Bunn agreed and scrapped his plan to use Graham Stoneburner and Trey Delk before using Vaughn in the eighth or ninth.

Bunn will remember in the seventh, with cracks spreading and widening, when it seemed the Tigers' season was about to cave in with three consecutive errors, Vaughn stayed cool, limiting the damage to two unearned runs.

"There aren't a whole lot of guys in the game period, (such as) Mariano Rivera or any guy who pitches in this

game, and to have three errors (and recover)," said Bunn of Vaughn's ability to focus.

Vaughn shut out Oklahoma State in the eighth and ninth as the Tigers' bats rallied to secure a trip to college baseball's Sweet 16 against Arizona State, a best-of-three series that begins Saturday in Tempe (Ariz.).

After striking out Mark Ginther to end the game, Vaughn whipped his glove toward the first-base dugout, seeming unsure how to release the flood of emotion welling inside.

The scene didn't seem possible in the middle of the year when Vaughn was struggling to recover from two offseason surgeries to his right shoulder.

Such an ending seemed inconceivable when Vaughn was barely breaking 80 mph in April, when he blew his first career save at Georgia on April 1, when he looked nothing like the closer who saved 11 games and posted a 3.15 ERA, striking out 43 batters in 40 innings as a junior.

The struggles continued against Miami two weeks later, and he was unable to pitch against Virginia Tech April 17-19, still trying to strengthen his shoulder.

The first operation in August repaired a partial labrum tear and "cleaned up" his rotator cuff. The pain didn't subside. Doctors discovered he had a bone chip under his shoulder joint that was not detected by an MRI, and another surgery was required in November. In mid -pril it was evident Vaughn still wasn't right.

"Coach (Jack) Leggett is one of the best guys to talk to," said Vaughn, who plans to obtain an MBA and go into coaching. "He said keep your head up. After the Miami game (Leggett) sat me down and said 'take care of yourself, get healthy.' "

Vaughn acknowledges the staff could have quit on him then. But they stuck with the team captain, who Bunn calls the "backbone" of the pitching staff. Vaughn, the staff knew, held the intangibles of a reliable back-end bullpen piece. On the postgame stage Monday, Leggett said he wanted no other pitcher to close out the game.

It is a toughness Vaughn cultivated in part for playing football for John McKissick at Summerville High School, where he was standout quarterback before Tommy John surgery derailed his football career. He jokes "he made" standout Georgia receiver A.J. Greene. He quarterbacked the 500th win in McKissick's career.

The toughness he also credits to Leggett, but mostly to his parents: "the type of people who said 'work real hard and if you make a mistake you have got to own up to it.' "

Gradually, Vaughn said he regained strength over the last month. Bunn said he reached 90 mph Monday and was consistently throwing his sinking fastball in the 87-88 mph.

No longer just a captain, no longer just a model clubhouse citizen, Vaughn is once again an asset as he travels west into the dusk of his career.

Notes

Leggett did not announce starting pitching plans for the super regional Wednesday. Bunn said Casey Harman, Chris Dwyer and Trey Delk are three options for Game 1 and Game 2 starts ... Leggett was also noncommittal on if Kyle Parker would return to the starting lineup.

Reach Travis Sawchik at tsawchik@postandcourier.com and check out the Clemson blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/tiger_tracks.