The last time freshman Logan Foster was in his home state of Nebraska, he was saying bye to friends and family before coming back to College Station at the end of Winter Break.
Foster could only hope the next time he returned, it would be for the College World Series.
“It was definitely a hope,” Foster said on Wednesday. “As we started progressing throughout the season, we all realized this team had something special.”
Six months later, Foster has a special homecoming to the greatest show on dirt.
The events leading to his trip with A&M to the CWS may have come full-circle, too, as his journey to Aggieland started in the Cornhusker State, where his relationship with A&M head coach Rob Childress began as well many years ago.
A native of Lincoln, Neb., Foster grew up with his current skipper during his tenure at Nebraska. His cousin, Tom Ott, was a pitcher under Childress for the Huskers and played alongside Foster’s current hitting coach Will Bolt.
His father, Troy, would see Childress at a local gas station each morning before the two went to work and Logan went to daycare with Childress’ daughter Hannah – one of his best childhood friends.
With Lincoln being just 55 miles southwest of Omaha, Foster was able to make an annual visit to the College World Series and got to watch the Aggies play in 2011 – a visit that resonated with the then 13-year-old while watching the man who led A&M.
“Just being able to see Coach Childress out on the field and thinking, ‘Wow, I’ve known this guy my whole life,’” Foster recalled. “To see him on one of the best fields in the country was an incredible feeling.”
The strong ties to Childress and his love for baseball made Foster’s collegiate dreams simple.
“I made up my mind – that’s the guy I want to play for when I go to college.”
Throughout his youth, Foster would also routinely make the trip down to Texas to attend A&M baseball camps, coming to Aggieland six times to learn from Childress and his staff.
In January 2014, Foster attended a winter camp before his sophomore season, crossing paths with his future roommate and current A&M pitcher, Kyle Richardson, in the process.
“Logan actually caught me,” Richardson recalled of their initial meeting. “So I’ve known him for a while, got to know him 2-3 years before we even came here.”
Richardson and Foster each picked up offers after the camp, with Richardson quickly jumping the gun to commit. Foster, however, was not as quick, with his hometown Huskers calling strong.
It would be another year before Foster returned to Aggieland for a camp with some friends. This time around though, Foster made the decision final, picking the team led by the man he always dreamed of playing for.
“There was definitely a big toss-up between A&M and Nebraska. I could have easily chosen to go to Nebraska,” Foster said. “But with my prior relationship with Coach Childress and always wanting to play for him, I decided to go with my heart.”
Once in Aggieland, Foster met with Richardson again, as the coaches put the two with Landon Miner and Tommy Gillman for roommates. With Richardson and Miner being from Bryan-College Station, the hope was the two locals could be there for the two freshmen from out-of-state if ever in need.
“[The coaches] paired us up so if we were ever missing home we could go close and go get a home-cooked meal and have Landon and Kyle open us up into their families,” Foster said.
Foster could then finally carry out a life-long dream as well – playing for Childress.
“It’s been an incredible experience,” Foster said of his freshman year. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys and our coaching staff is one of the best in the country.”
As the fall progressed, Foster became a guy who could potentially see the field as a freshman, with his exceptional hitting turning heads.
“From the very beginning, we knew Logan had an enormous amount of power in his bat,” Miner said of Foster. “He just showed us his ability and that he wasn’t going to be left out of the lineup.”
And there Foster was, coming in at DH on Opening Day against Bowling Green. For the most part, Foster had a remarkable rookie campaign, with a .283 average, driving in 24 RBI and hit six home runs.
Towards the end of the season, however, Foster fell into a slump and out of the lineup. In game two of last weekend’s Super Regional though, he found himself back in the order at DH. Foster wasted no time displaying his power either, blasting a solo-homer to left field in the second inning.
“Just hearing the crowd erupt when you’re rounding the bases, it gives you goose bumps,” Foster said of the moment. “And to see the guys all celebrating when you come across home plate, it’s just awesome.”
Through his late-season struggles, Miner said that it was Foster’s mentality that allowed him to recover and play a critical role in the Aggies advancing to the CWS.
“He’s definitely been a huge part [of the team], he’s always going to be a power threat. There was a point throughout the year where everything wasn’t going his way, but he just kept battling, kept staying consistent with his approach,” Miner said. “Obviously it came up big in the Super Regional. We may not be in the spot we’re in without him.”
Miner mentioned that Foster regularly expresses his love for his home state, while Richardson added how it was summed up in one tweet after winning the Super Regional.
“He got 2,000 likes on one tweet about coming home to Nebraska,” Richardson said with a chuckle. “He’s real excited to go back and his friends are excited to see him.”
Childress himself knows how special it will be for Foster to return home in this situation.
“It’s pretty special for a Nebraska kid to go back to Omaha,” Childress said. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Foster noted that the wind blowing in from the Missouri River just a couple blocks away from TD Ameritrade Park will give a hitter such as himself a challenge, but nonetheless, the experience in itself with many old friends and family in the stands will make the trip memorable.
“Growing up and going to the College World Series ever since I was four and being able to experience Rosenblatt and TD Ameritrade, to be able to see it from a different perspective as a player – it’s going to be a surreal feeling.”
A&M opens its College World Series run against Louisville on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.