Q&A With National Player of the Week Nick Haughian

Husky pitcher Nick Haughian is college baseball's reigning National Player of the Week after a 15-strikeout, complete game shutout of Arizona at Safeco Field last Friday. His previous strikeout high was 8. Pitching your best game ever in front of the biggest crowd of the year? Yeah, that's pretty nice.

I emailed Nick questions, he emailed back answers.

Was there a point during Friday's game when you knew you had great stuff?
Really all week long in my bullpens at practice, my stuff felt really good. But in the bullpen throwing my warmups before the game, I knew it could be a really good night. I was throwing all of my offspeed pitches for strikes and had great command of my fastball.

If you could have another pitcher's stuff for a day, who would it be?
I think I would have to go with a flame thrower of some sort... maybe Joel Zumaya. It must be fun to be able to throw a pitch and turn around to see triple digits on the gun. There aren't a whole lot of guys that can do that.

Bases loaded, full count, one-run lead, ninth inning, Alex Rodriguez at the plate. What do you throw, and where do you throw it?
Hard slider that starts over the middle of the plate and breaks in on his hands. He'd swing right over the top- strike three. I hope someday I really get the chance to see this one play out!

Are you rooming with any of the guys on the team?
I live with Jorden Merry, Jason Erickson, Paul Dickey, Elliott Cribby, and Brett Wilcox. It's a blast having so many pitchers all under one roof, and of course Willy our lone position player as well. We all do a good job of keeping everyone else in check and making sure no one gets too high or too low regardless of outcomes in games or otherwise. We are all hyper competitive as well so everything we do in the house from baseball to video games is always a chance to earn some bragging rights for at least a while. I love it.

What have been some of your favorite classes/professors at UW?
I think any of Joe Weis's classes are great. He teaches a lot of sociology courses and being a major, I have had the opportunity to take many of them. I've had classes covering Murder, Deviance, and the Sociology of Sport, all of which were really interesting.

What's your favorite Pac-10 road trip?
I would have to say the trip to USC is probably my favorite. Their field is beautiful, and of course the weather makes the trip a great place to pitch. It doesn't get much better than being able to pitch in short sleeves on a 75-plus degree day... (oh yeah going over to Pullman and sweeping them at their place is also a lot of fun!)

Did you face any of your teammates in high school?
The only guy I can really remember facing is Matt Stevens in the Wesco North league championship game. He was also pitching for Lake Stevens that same game. I got him to line out to the deepest part of left field to end the game in the top of the seventh on what was probably the only change-up I threw all season long. He hit it really well, but we won the league title anyway by a score of two to one! Oh yeah, and Geoff Brown tells me that I struck him out three times in a game when I was a junior and he was a freshman. I can't say I remember it, but I'm glad he does.

You're giving up a lot fewer walks in '08--what's been the difference?
I think the biggest difference is the mentality and approach of a little different game plan. We've been trying to attack the inner half of the strike zone a lot more, and I feel that has lead to more pitches on the plate that are either called strikes or swung at. I have made a much stronger effort to pitch for contact as opposed to trying to avoid it.

What's the best piece of pitching advice you've gotten?
That is such a tough question to answer... I've been given a lot of great advice from many coaches and of course my parents. I guess the biggest thing that most people tell me is to trust my stuff, because its good enough to get anyone out. When I'm doing that, things usually seem to go pretty well.