OMAHA, Neb. -- There has been one common thread to A&M baseball and elimination games. His name is Michael Wacha.
Wacha has started the two previous games that could have ended the Aggies' season, and at 1 p.m. Tuesday against California in the College Word Series he will be on the mound in the third.
"Michael Wacha has been the key ingredient," said A&M coach Rob Childress after Monday's practice. "He definitely gets the ball [Tuesday]."
Wacha has thrown 14 1/3 innings in his previous two games, giving up just nine hits and two runs, both of which came against Florida State, when the Aggies (47-21) were already up by six runs.
Wacha didn't get the decision in the 3-0 win over Arizona in the College Station Regional's deciding game. He picked up his ninth win in 12 decisions in the 11-2 win over the Seminoles in the super regional final.
Wacha's reasoning for his success in such games is pretty simple.
"Just like in the regional and super regional, pounding the strike zone early and not giving up too many walks ... and let my defense play behind me," Wacha said. "I feel like our team plays best whenever our backs are up against the wall and it's going to be no different."
Cal is no stranger to elimination games, having to win four straight games after losing its regional opener just to advance to the super regional.
On Sunday the Golden Bears (37-22) lost their CWS opener 4-1 to top-seeded Virginia.
"You know, I think we've got them right where we want them," said Cal coach David Esquer. "I think that's where we are at our best, so we might as well go with that. At least that's what I'm trying to convince our guys."
Esquer is scheduled to go with freshman lefty Kyle Porter, who is 5-0 and has a 1.59 ERA. He was the winner in an elimination game over Baylor at the Houston Regional.
Cal's team was on the brink of elimination long before the postseason started, with the program facing its final season when it was announced it would be disbanded in September.
A provisional announcement was made in April that $10 million had been raised to save the program. The official word was given on Friday when the team was headed to Omaha.
"Most of those guys put a lot of irons in the fire, and their families as far as what they were going to be doing in the very near future, and for them to stay together and get to Omaha is a tribute to coach Esquer, his staff and his kids," said Childress. "Their program is dead in the water and a lot of people stepped up and coach Esquer was a rock through that whole ordeal."
The two teams are the only ones at the CWS that were not seeded, each having to win one series on the road.
A&M won at Florida State, while Cal beat Baylor 9-8 with a walk-off, two-run single by Devon Rodriguez to win at Rice's Reckling Park.
The Bears' pitching dominated the next series with Dallas Baptist, giving up only seven hits total in two straight victories at a minor league park in Santa Clara.
The teams have something else in common. Both are making do without their No. 1 starting pitchers.
A&M lost John Stilson after its last regular-season series, while Cal's Justin Jones is being held out because of a strained arm he suffered in the super regional.
Jones could pitch later if Cal would continue on in the tournament.
On Monday, Childress put to rest any rumors that Stilson would be able to pitch again for the Aggies.
"He's getting closer," Childress said. "Obviously surgery is something that is not going to be necessary, which is a great thing for him and his future, but I don't know if he'd be ready for the College World Series, no. He won't play in the College World Series."
Cal is led by the Pac-10 Player of the Year, Tony Renda, who was the team's designated hitter on Sunday while trying to nurse a strained calf. He is normally the second baseman. That position is being manned by Derek Campbell, who is batting better than .500 in the postseason.
One streak will have to be broken on Tuesday night. A&M has lost five CWS games in a row, last winning in 1993, while Cal is on a six-game CWS skid, after finishing third in the 1980 CWS.
The Bears won the 1947 and 1957 titles, beating President George Bush's Yale team in the very first CWS.
NOTES -- Cal faced the top three college pitchers selected in the 2011 draft (Garrit Cole and Trevor Bauer of UCLA and Virginia's Danny Hultzen), while A&M went up against four of the five Baseball America's All-American first-team pitchers (Florida State's Sean Gilmartin, Texas' Taylor Jungmann, South Carolina's Michael Roth and Gonzaga's Cody Martin). ... Cal center fielder Austin Booker's father, Rod, was an All-American at Cal and was on the Bears' team that finished third at the CWS in 1980. They are the 10th father-son combination to appear in a CWS. ... Only three teams have come back to win the national title since 1981; USC ('98), Oregon State ('06) and South Carolina last season. ... Aggie first baseman Jacob House has a 12-game hitting streak.
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