AUBURN - You've undoubtedly heard his name, even if you haven't seen a lot of him on the field.

Kelly Sweppenhiser, the third baseman for the Auburn Doubledays, is a popular member of the team despite appearing in only 12 games so far through Friday.

The second-year Auburn player had an average year in 2006, 17 hits for a .213 average in 44 appearances before getting called up to Syracuse for one game late in the season. This year, Sweppenhiser has been starting more games as of late after injuries to two other players at the position.

There have been some big moments for Sweppenhiser in those dozen games, though - namely a home run and a winning run scored on a walk-off hit in extra innings. Here the Pennsylvania native talks about coming from a small town to being one of the best in his college's history and his lack of disappointment in coming back to Auburn for a second year.

You grew up in a small town, Herndon, Penn. What was it like playing baseball there?

“I graduated in a class of about 110 kids,” Sweppenhiser said. “It was a pretty small community, smaller than Auburn but the people are a lot the same. It was a real community feel, where you've got people pulling for you. Playing there was great, I had an older brother that played. He made the footsteps and I just followed in them. Everything I did was always because I wanted to be like my brother. He was a huge baseball player and I wanted to be exactly like him.”

What made you decide to go to the Virginia Military Institute?

“The head coach at the time was one of my good friends from high school. He went to Auburn University, Dominic Rich, who played in the Blue Jays organization actually. We were good friends and he switched to VMI, I started talking to him and I really liked the way he taught baseball. I know I need to learn a lot, coming from a small baseball town in Pennsylvania where I didn't get much instruction. He was a big influence on that decision, but also I wanted something different. I didn't want to go to college and party. I wanted to go and learn and be disciplined. It was something I really hadn't had, I wanted something different. I'm a religious guy and didn't want to waste four years of my college life.”

At VMI, you were the first player from the school to be considered for the Dick Hower trophy, given to the top player in collegiate baseball. You also earned the Big South Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year and First Team All-Conference for the second straight year. It seemed like you definitely made the most out of college.

“Yeah, but the last year was a tough one because after my junior year, I thought I had a decent chance at getting drafted and I didn't get picked up at all. It was tough going back there my senior year but I wound up having such a good time. We had such a strong unit of friends as a team that it made playing so much easier. The accolades that came with it are great, but you look back and just with that we'd won a championship. I couldn't tell you one postseason thing that I got. It's all about winning with me and we couldn't pull through at the right time.”

You finally got your first home run on July 13, in Staten Island in front of the toughest fans in the New York-Penn League. How was that?

“It was a great experience, definitely one of those things that you'll never forget. I haven't gotten a ton of at-bats, but I definitely had enough where I felt like should have gotten a couple of home runs by then. It's always special when you hit one though.”

Were you surprised to learn that you were coming back to Auburn this season?

“Not after being sent to extended spring training. I was actually kind of hoping to come back here. It's a great setup, with Justin (Mashore), Dennis (Holmberg) and Antonio (Caceres) and all the guys that were here last year. We have a comfort level with each other. We know what we can do and understand what role we have on this team and it makes things a lot easier, you can build on that.”