OMAHA, Neb. -- Texas A&M coach Rob Childress peered over at the MVP of the College Station regional, Michael Wacha, and rolled his eyes as if to say, "Only Jacob."
The Aggies had just won a tight deciding game against Arizona to advance to the super regional and Jacob House had strolled into the media tent with a stuffed monkey hanging from his neck.
"Yeah, he kind of gave me a look, a double take, but I think he likes that we keep it loose," House said. "That's one of the things we kind of bond around."
The monkey is a good luck charm the Aggies, led by House, have taken to another level.
Toby, as he was affectionately dubbed, not only has his place in the dugout, he's got his own seat on the bus and on flights. He's a permanent fixture to the 2011 team that, in his own way, has contributed to the A&M's first trip to the College World Series since 1999.
"The monkey [idea] came over night and we've kind of run with it and it's been fun, keeps us loose in the dugout," House said. "There is so much pressure that people can put on themselves with athletics these days that it's nice just to relax do things whether it's weird or sharing a little quirk."
House had a student trainer go to a toy store the night after the Aggies scored only one run in an 11-inning game early in the season against Gonzaga.
Remembering the Rally Monkey from the Anaheim Angels' 2002 World Series win, House asked the trainer to bring back the biggest, softest, funniest looking monkey he could find.
"I loved it when [Angel fans] put it on the screen and he started jumping around and everyone went crazy, and they had the monkey around their neck, so I thought we should get a rally monkey, get this hitting going since we'd been struggling," said House. "Its funny because we will get some looks when we walk into stadiums and he's carrying a little cat carrier around and they look and wonder what is going on."
The Aggies have since taken it one step further, picking up a little companion, Tibby, to keep the star of the dugout company. The much smaller Tibby also made an appearance at the press conference.
"I found him in a store and he's got stretch arms and he sling-shots across the room; he's out of control," House said. "I just thought let's bring him along and add to the fun."
Serious about defense
House didn't need a good luck charm or anything to change his fortune in the field.
The junior first baseman, who has started every game this season, is the backbone of a defense that Childress has suggested is as big a reason the Aggies are at the CWS as their nationally ranked pitching.
"He's as good a first baseman as I've ever had in 20 years from a defensive standpoint, has great feet and a very accurate arm," Childress said. "I don't think you ever talk about having an anchor of the defense playing first base. That is usually your guy that bangs it a little bit and you hope catches everything he has thrown at him doesn't have to make a throw that is important throughout the game."
Childress was glad to see House making a throw in the deciding game of the Tallahassee Super Regional. House fielded a hard-hit ball down the line by a left-handed hitter and started a double-play after Wacha threw 12 pitches in walking the leadoff hitter.
"You expect him to make that play No. 1, but I thought that was the turning point of game if you can talk about a turning point of a game being the top of the first inning," said Childress. "Had he not made that play, it might have been a totally different game."
Not a bad testament considering 2011 was his first full season on the infield.
House has a .990 fielding percentage with more than half of his seven errors coming from trying to make plays that many first basemen wouldn't have gotten a glove on.
"I kind of take pride in not being the big fat slow guy over there," said House, who is 6-foot-3, 190 pounds. "Just not being the slob that's thinking about his next at-bat that sort of thing taking pride in doing everything I can in helping out our infield."
The Aggies' fielding percentage improved from .964 in 2010 to .976 this season.
Much of it is attributed to House, who saved a number of throwing errors by picking the ball off the dirt or maneuvering himself to make the catch while staying on the bag.
"You look at past first basemen here, they were not very comfortable over there," said senior shortstop Kenny Jackson. "A ball may get loose, out of hand, but you know he's is going to come up with it. He's got good footwork and he's known a lot more for his defense than most first basemen."
House is no power hitter, which is usually expected of a first basemen. He has three homers, but does lead the Aggies with 51 runs batted in, hitting from the clean-up spot, a testament to his ability to get the bat on the ball in key moments.
Familiar with CWS and USC
House is the only Aggie who's played in the College World Series, having gone 2 for 3 in two different games, both against LSU, for Arkansas in 2009.
"I talked to them a little bit, told them you are going to be overwhelmed, but it's going to be the funnest thing of your life, and this is what you've worked for," House said. "We've talked lightheartedly and there have been some serious conversations with questions, but for the most part I've kept quiet about it."
The talk really began the week before, when A&M was sent to Tallahassee for the super regional.
House made it to Omaha with the Razorbacks by sweeping Florida State and told his Aggie teammates he was 2-0 down in Tallahassee and it was going to happen again.
"He's got a strong walk and is a true leader in every sense of the word," said Childress. "He's been there and it obviously helps with our younger guys."
House is also familiar with the Aggies' first opponent at the CWS.
While with the Hogs, he hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the ninth to beat South Carolina, 12-11.
"That was my freshman year and we ended up sweeping them and then my sophomore year we took 2 of 3. I hit another home run against them," said House, a Mansfield native who transferred to A&M after the 2009 season. "They have a great team and I really like the way coach [Ray] Tanner coaches their team. He's done a great job and obviously they won a national championship last year so I've got a lot of respect for them, but yeah, it will be a team that is nothing new."
NOTES -- Jacob House had to go to Blinn College for a year after transferring from Arkansas because of difficulty with credits. "A&M was definitely No. 1 on my list after getting my release," said House. ... House still knows of a couple of South Carolina players he played against, including outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., a recent first-round draft pick who is likely to return from an injury Sunday. Infielder Scott Wingo, a .338 hitter, was also with the team when House was with Arkansas. ... House pitched in high school and asked A&M coach Mike Clement if he was going to pitch in the 23-9 lopsided loss to Florida State after they sent Ross Hales, who hadn't pitched in three months, into the bullpen.
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