Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Gosser’s role vital, even as a backup
FAYETTEVILLE — The “Bus” will be pulling into North Little Rock later this week.
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville catcher Alex Gosser, a senior from North Little Rock nicknamed “Bus,” will make his final hometown appearance when the No. 14 Razorbacks play Memphis Wednesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.
It will be part of a twogame series that starts tonight when Arkansas plays Memphis at Baum Stadium.
Gosser said his teammates started calling him the “Goss Bus” late in his sophomore season in reference
to a character known as the “Gus Bus” in the movie The Benchwarmers.
“I’m just a big-bodied guy, so it works,” said Gosser, 6-0 and 215 pounds. “Nobody even calls me by my first name anymore.
“It’s just the ‘Bus’ now.” The “Bus” started becoming a popular nickname for Gosser earlier this season after he scored from first base on a double by Jax Biggers in the Razorbacks’ 12-3 victory over Louisiana-Monroe.
Arkansas baseball’s Twitter account posted video of Gosser running the bases with the caption “Who knew the Bus had some speed!?!”
Gosser didn’t have to move as quickly when he hit his first career home run last Thursday night in the seventh inning of the Razorbacks’ 14-4 victory over Georgia.
It was the left-handed hitting Gosser’s first at-bat of the game after he came in as a defensive replacement for starting catcher Grant Koch.
Gosser hit a 2-0 fastball over the right-field fence.
“I was in a hitter’s count so I was looking for a fastball,” Gosser said. “I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to get my hands out here and do something with it.’ The ball was a little in and a little low and I just took advantage of it.
“Hitting a home run felt great. It was a long time coming.”
Baum Stadium fans and Arkansas’ players celebrated as if Gosser had hit a game-winning grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
“I mean, it was just electric,” Razorbacks second baseman Carson Shaddy said. “That was like the best thing ever for Gosser.
“He deserves every single praise that he’s gotten from that home run. Everybody was so happy for him. I just can’t put it into words how special that was for him.”
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said Gosser is as good of a teammate any player could have because of his personality and attitude.
“No. 1, everybody likes him,” Van Horn said. “The second thing is, he knows he’s not going to play a whole lot, but he still shows up every day to practice with a smile on his face and catches bullpens and works during the games catching our pitchers while they’re getting ready.
“Then it seems like whenever we put him in the game, he finds a way to put the barrel on the ball and gets his hits.”
Gosser is batting .389 (7 for 18) with 4 runs batted in and 5 runs in 10 games, including 4 starts.
It isn’t easy for him to find playing time behind Koch, a sophomore who is a good defensive catcher batting .314 with 9 home runs and 33 RBI as the team’s cleanup hitter.
“I’m just here to do what I can,” Gosser said. “If that means to play once a week or get into a game late or pinch
hit, that’s my role.”
Gosser was expected to redshirt as a true freshman in 2014, but after not playing in the first 50 games he found
himself starting against Texas A&M because of injuries to No. 1 catcher Jake Wise and backup Blake Baxendale.
When Gosser came up to bat for the first time in what became a 3-2 Arkansas victory, the Baum Stadium crowd gave him a standing ovation knowing he was giving up his redshirt.
Gosser said at the time he wondered if he was doing the right thing, but now he has no doubt even though he played in just eight games as a freshman.
“I’ve gotten a lot of love from it and it definitely helped kick-start my career,” Gosser said.
Gosser said he’s learned he doesn’t need to be a starter to help his teammates. He’s provided numerous answers for those who had questions or concerns.
“If I can’t be a Grant Koch
or a Carson Shaddy or a Luke Bonfield and get 300 at-bats a year, I think of other things to do,” Gosser said. “I pride myself on being that calm, cool, collected guy.
“Anybody that needs to have a talk or is struggling, they can always come to me.”
Gosser figures to be especially popular with fans when the Razorbacks play Wednesday at Dickey-Stephens Park.
“It’s always special to me to play in North Little Rock,” Gosser said, noting he will distribute about 40 tickets to family and friends for Wednesday’s game. “I didn’t get to go to a lot of the games in Fayetteville, but I always came to the football and baseball games in Little Rock.
“So me personally, I know exactly how the fans feel. Hopefully we can give them a great show.”