Not 100 miles down Highway 6, dozens of the world’s best gathered at Daikan Park in Houston for a shot at glory in the World Baseball Classic. From young sluggers like Great Britain’s Harry Ford to America’s ever-imposing Aaron Judge, the global phenomenon has 20 countries eager to prove they are capable of ruling the baseball world.

But in College Station, a different battle was taking place, albeit on a much smaller scale. No. 22 Texas A&M baseball — while not competing for worldwide bragging rights — focused on extending its nonconference series home win streak to four straight years with a doubleheader against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.

Game 1

If inclement weather was the cause of a near-last-minute time change, it did not make itself known at the beginning of Game 1 as a cloudy but  blue sky shined on Olsen Field. Although, that’s not to say there weren’t things falling from the sky — it came from redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Shane Sdao, not from the heavens above.

A leadoff home run by senior first baseman Carter Hain made things uncomfortable early for the lefty from Montgomery, and the metaphorical rain kept pouring as Sdao followed up the homer with a pair of singles and a walk for three Oakland runners with no outs.

But like a Lenten Friday, fishing one’s way out of a situation is often the smart play. In the face of imminent danger, Sdao managed to flyout his next batter followed by his third strikeout, as the Aggies wished to stop the bleeding. With the bases still loaded, sophomore right fielder Aidan Shuck cast his line and hooked his prize: a two-RBI single. With Oakland’s shocking 3-0 lead, Sdao put an end to the ursus advance with his fourth strikeout.

Down a field goal’s worth of runs against a unit with a single win to its name, the Maroon and White looked to their own bear to kick start their revival, as junior catcher Bear Harrison was hit by a pitch for the eighth time this season. Operating outside of his 15.00 ERA, junior right-handed pitcher Jordan Dalhof made quick work of the A&M batting order as the Aggie faithful attempted to jinx the righty by reminding him of his no-hitter status to that point.

But whether the hexes worked or the second time is the charm, Dahlof will look at the day with malice when he remembers facing sophomore left fielder Terrence Kiel II and junior center fielder Caden Sorrell once more. Kiel did what he does best with a .521 on-base percentage and knocked a single to get the Aggies two runners on with one out. As for Sorrell, one pitch is all he needed to launch his seventh home run of the year 439 feet down the heart of center field for game-tying heroics.

And on that note, what often gets lost in the glory of miraculous comebacks and at-bats riddled with star-studded talent is the dependability of a quality defense. Head coach Michael Earley’s first full offseason has paid dividends, as the Aggies have just seven errors in their first 12 matchups, as opposed to 20 in the same time frame a year ago.

Kiel embodied such improvement by running down a flyout along the left field wall and following it up two batters later by robbing the Golden Grizzlies a base-hit to end their inning. But the good times can only roll for so long, contrary to Sam Cooke’s message in his hit by the same name, as back-to-back stolen base attempts were thwarted by Oakland, leaving game one locked at a 3-3 tie by the top of the fifth inning.

To the shock of A&M, the 12th Man and perhaps himself, Dahlof lasted 4.2 innings before being pulled in favor of junior LHP Owen Thomson, as the Minnesota native could not keep Kiel from reaching base for the third straight time and Sorrell for a second occasion. With two outs and junior 1B Gavin Grahovac at the plate, it was up to Thomson to dig the Golden Grizzlies out.

But in facing one of the Southeastern Conference’s best, the task was too tall as was the arc of Grahovac’s swing, as a two-RBI double stole the lead back for the Aggies, 5-3, just before senior designated hitter Jake Duer’s flyout ended the fifth inning in favor of the home-turf defenders.

Sdao recorded his seventh strikeout in his fourth straight scoreless inning, bringing Thomson out to the mound to take over fully in relief. Despite that title — relief pitcher — Thomson’s appearance was everything but, surrendering a base-hit to freshman shortstop Boston Kellner just before another walk from the Oakland staff.

Rather than leave the no-out, two-runner situation up to Thomson, Golden Grizzlies head coach Brian Nelson called in sophomore RHP Andrew Landis in a risky attempt to keep the floodgates closed for A&M. The gamble nearly produced an unscathed inning thanks to a flyout and fielder’s choice, but an E4 helped freshman RF Jorian Wilson reach base and score the sixth Maroon and White run.

A strikeout plus a grounder and flyout made it five straight scoreless for Sdao, with his counterpart Landis taking the longer route to the same result. Two quick outs put the righty in position for a swift exit, but two walks and an error loaded the bases for graduate student second baseman Travis Chestnut. To no avail, though, as his strikeout kept the Aggies’ lead at three runs.

After Sdao’s career-high strikeout performance concluded following the seventh inning, junior RHP Juan Vargas arrived in relief, set on curbing a Golden Grizzlies comeback bid. The panameño flamethrower held up his end in the eighth, dispatching three straight batters before taking the mound in the ninth.

The final frame came with a rising tide for Vargas, as two singles put Oakland a swing away from preserving itself a last gasp of breath. A flyout put A&M an out’s reach from victory, where Earley saw it fit to put junior RHP Clayton Freshcorn in to finish the job. In three pitches, the Aggies had a 6-3 win in Game 1.

Game 2

After roughly an hour-and-a-half-break, the Aggies were in position to take the series as the clouds gave way to a setting western sun. Making his fourth start of the season, junior LHP Weston Moss got the nod, hungry to wipe away the taste of his dismal performance in A&M’s 11-1 run-rule loss to No. 1 UCLA on Feb. 28.

Moss got right to work, knocking down Oakland in order to begin the first inning. Kiel got the same memo, hammering a double to left-center field as A&M got off to  an early start. Fearful of Sorrell’s capability, graduate student RHP Camden Cooper walked the Aggies’ home run leader on six pitches as Grahovac’s single into shallow left got Kiel home for the first run of Game 2.

Kellner got in on the scoring affair with a two-RBI single of his own, as the hunt for a second out continued. Freshman third baseman Nico Partida joined the walk party, as did redshirt junior DH Blake Binderup before the second out was finally achieved off a sac fly from sophomore C Zane Becker — but two runners remained at the corners and with another walk, Cooper’s night finished 0.2 innings in. 

Redshirt junior RHP Stephen Ruhle had nowhere else to put Kiel on his second at-bat of the first inning, and a walk-in run scored the Aggies’ fifth just before Sorrell struck out swinging for the third out of the first inning. 

Another 1-2-3 inning for Moss brought Grahovac back up to plate, and he made it two first-pitch Friday home runs for the Aggies by sending the ball 410 feet before bouncing off the batter’s eye. Following another walk to Duer, Kellner figured leaving the park was an even more efficient way to score, sending the ball 385 feet into the left-field bleachers. 

As Judge hit a two-run homer down in Houston, perhaps the psychic waves connected to Oakland sophomore RF Sam Patton, who slammed a solo shot off the right side to cut the A&M’s lead, 8-1. 

The Aggie’s defense in sync with Moss kept the Golden Grizzlies in check for two more innings as Kiel and Sorrell found themselves aboard for a third time. With another sac fly, Grahovac plated the speedy Atlanta native to push A&M’s advantage up, 9-1. 

The seventh inning featured pitching changes on both ends: sophomore RHP Gavin Lyons for A&M and redshirt senior RHP Josh Korson for Oakland. The former posted an unblemished inning while the latter did the same, keeping the Aggies from a run-rule victory in the seventh.

Bent on extending the game, the ailing Golden Grizzlies recorded two hits in the top of the eighth as well as another run, bringing the score to 9-2. 

In the bottom of the frame and in just his fourth start of the season, sophomore 2B Sawyer Farr looped a double over an Oakland defender and advanced to third on a wild pitch, followed by Kiel who was hit by a pitch shortly after. With a fielder’s choice crossing a tenth run home, senior RHP Grant Cunningham had three outs standing in the way of a fourth straight Aggie win.

Two leadoff singles did not make it easy on the Seattle native, but luckily for A&M, a double play put it just one out away from victory. Down to his last strike, redshirt senior DH Jack Lux grounded out, sealing the series for the Maroon and White with a final score of 10-2.

A&M will remain in College Station to finish off its series against Oakland on Saturday, March 7, with first pitch slated for 6 p.m.