April 22, 2008

College Station, TX (UWIRE) -- Andy Sawyers walks out of the dugout in the middle of the first inning and heads to his post in the first base coach's box for the Texas A&M baseball team. The former Nebraska University catcher from Willits, Calif., tips his cap at Olsen Field's section 203 as the rowdy bunch hollers, "Give 'em hell, Saw Dawg!"

He pulls a simple baseball out of his back pocket and tosses it up to the rabid crowd. The baseball is simple enough, but what is written on the ball is not.

"If Old Sarge leaves Amarillo traveling at 26.4 MPH, and Chuck Norris leaves New Orleans traveling at 32.9 MPH and they meet in Austin, TX, how many Longhorns die in the explosion?"

The quizzical ball is only one in a series of around 25 that have been tossed into the section. These baseballs have generated a small following amongst the Aggie faithful. Students have made "Saw-Dawg pots" that are World War II-esque helmets with a plastic saw and stuffed dog glued on. Some children often run up to the second deck just to see what that day's baseball said.

They have even spawned a thread on TexAgs.com that at the time of writing had 499 responses and 3100 views. All of this for a simple first base coach and a baseball.

Sawyers' story actually began when he was hired as the volunteer assistant coach in October 2007. He had spent five years at Nebraska as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator before A&M Head Coach Rob Childress, a former Cornhusker baseball coach himself, came calling.

Previously, he had been the head coach for Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, where he led the Dragons to an 87-30 record in two seasons.

At A&M, Sawyers' duties have been reduced to handling the outfielders and assisting with hitting. As mentioned above, he also serves as the first base coach for the Aggies. However, for all his work Sawyers is not paid one.

"That would be illegal," he said about receiving any sort of compensation. In fact, in 2002, the University of Texas baseball program was put on probation for paying a volunteer assistant coach through a local beer distributor.

In his first game as an A&M coach, the crowd from section 203 yelled "Give 'em hell, new guy!" at Sawyers. He was curious about these fans and asked Director of Baseball Operations Jason Hutchins who this group of rabble-rousers was.

"I asked Hutch, who knows everything about Aggieland, and I said 'These guys are hollering,' and he said 'Oh, that's section 203,'" Sawyers said. "I know there is more than just that section, but that was the one that he told me was hollering at me so that is the one I wrote up."

Though tradition at Olsen holds that the "new guy" must earn his name by being thrown out, Sawyers said he has been called "Saw-Dawg" for a long time.

"Nobody wants to be called 'new guy'," Sawyers said. "So I put a ball that said 'Give 'em hell, 203!' and signed it 'Saw-Dawg,' which has been my nickname forever."

For those that refused to go against tradition, Sawyers earned his name after he was ejected for using choice words in a game against Oklahoma.

His "one time thing" has turned into a deeply rooted series of anecdotes, questions and jokes. Sawyers said he has enjoyed the game-to-game practice of tossing the ball up into the stands and plans to keep doing it.

"I think it's a little goofy," he said. "I was a full time assistant at Nebraska for five years and I don't think I ever threw a ball up into the stands, so it kind-of makes my wife laugh. I'm having fun with it."

(C) 2008 The Battalion via UWIRE