Carson Ozmer, "The Dude" for Alabama Baseball

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — When Warren Zeider's 'Burn it Down' rings out across Sewell-Thomas Stadium, it typically means one thing: game over.

Much to the annoyance of the opposing team, Alabama closer Carson Ozmer begins his trot from the bullpen, meeting an umpire for his mandatory foreign substances check before taking the bump for the Crimson Tide.

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"He's been outstanding. I have zero doubts getting him in the game," stated Rob Vaughn Tuesday night following Alabama's 10-6 victory over No. 23 Southern Miss, where Ozmer pitched the final 1.2 innings of the night. "Not because he's perfect, he's not your typical 98 (mile per hour fastball) with a wipeout slider. But because he's got guts, he's got toughness, he's got pitchability, he's got a slow heartbeat. He has everything you want at the end of the game. If you want to beat Oz, you've got to go hit-hit-hit-hit-hit, because he's not going to give you anything."

Ozmer taking the mound is an indication of a Crimson Tide win. In Ozmer's 16 appearances, Alabama boasts a record of 15-1, the lone loss being against Presbyterian, where Ozmer allowed zero earned runs across 2.2 innings.

Throughout his 16 appearances for the Crimson Tide, Ozmer has allowed three earned runs, marking an incredibly low 1.29 ERA, and a .155 opponent batting average across 21 innings while punching out 25 batters. Ozmer has tallied ten saves on the season thus far, the second-best mark in the nation.

"Oz is even better in the locker room with the team than he is on the field, which I know is probably hard to believe the way he's been throwing," said Alabama relief pitcher Coulson Buchanan. "He just executes and goes out there. And we feel like if we give him that one-run lead there, we feel alright, but being able to give him insurance, we feel like we'll be able to make it out of there with a win. That's just what he's done for us."

Getting Oz, as Vaughn and the Crimson Tide squad have cordially nicknamed the Lantana, Texas, native, to Tuscaloosa wasn't easy. The right-hander garnered serious MLB draft interest during his four years at PENN, and Ozmer viewed it as a practicable option.

"The draft was a real possibility for him." Vaughn said Tuesday, "He's a PENN grad, really smart kid. The draft was a possibility; we had some conversations with him, and we were able to get him to pull his name back and say 'I'm coming to Alabama'. He's been everything we'd hoped he would be."

In a league with four of the top six offenses in the nation, you need "a dude" on the mound in close, late-game situations, and Alabama has just that in Ozmer.

"The best teams we've (Vaughn and assistant coach Milke Morrison) ever been on have guys at the beginning, and a dude at the end," Vaughn said about the importance of having "a dude" at the end of games. "You can piece together innings 5-6-7 with matchups and different things. It's tough to piece together the end. You gotta have a dude at the back end. We knew Oz coming in could be that for us. That's why it was such a high priority for us getting him here."

Ozmer's name will consistently be called on as Alabama gets deeper into SEC play, and the right-hander will need to continue what he's done during the first half of the season: be "that dude."

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