By ROBERT CESSNAOMAHA, Neb. -- Dawn Pounds knew what to get her husband for Father's Day when the Texas A&M baseball team beat Florida State to reach the College World Series for the first time in 12 years. She told Ray Pounds to take their 6-year-old son Aaron to Omaha to see the Aggies play South Carolina compliments of her and the three daughters, ages 15, 13 and 8.
"We're just having a great time," said Ray Pounds as they exited the concession stand. "It's just a great experience."
Aaron had a baseball glove on one hand and a hamburger in the other. He was wearing a maroon Texas A&M No. 12 baseball jersey with matching maroon shorts and an Aggie hat.
Ray Pounds had a white A&M polo golf shirt and Aggie hat. The 1989 Aggie graduate works in Houston for Accenture, a management consulting firm
"I was a baseball fan at A&M. We had some pretty good teams back then," he said.
But this was his first trip to Omaha, which became more memorable when he was joined by his father, Herb Pounds, Class of '65, who flew in Sunday afternoon. Herb Pounds made the trek to Omaha the last time the Aggies were at the CWS, which was 1999.
An Aggie dad who didn't have far to travel to celebrate Father's Day was Rob Harper, Class of 1998, who was with 7-year-old twins, Robert and Kyle, for what he said was "sort of" a Father's Day gift. But since they live in Omaha, they've taken in several CWS games.
"We don't come every year, we try to," Rob said. "But we were coming this year for sure because of the Aggies."
The Harpers, who had seats behind home plate, each wore patented anti-glare Texas A&M stickers to complement their Aggie apparel.
Kyle Harper, who was named after Kyle Field, plays shortstop but his favorite player is pitcher Michael Wacha because the second-grader-to-be likes the name Wacha.
The Aggie sophomore right-hander is scheduled to pitch Tuesday's game.
"When the Aggies play, we'll be here," Rob Harper said.
The Pounds aren't so lucky. They had to leave Monday morning, so they also watched Florida beat Stanford on Saturday night.
The Pounds waited outside the Florida locker room afterward and were rewarded with an autograph from winning pitcher Hudson Randall.
Aaron Pounds, who pitches and plays second base, saved plenty of room on his official CWS baseball for signatures of his favorite Aggie players.
"I like all of them," said the soon-to-be first-grader.
The Pounds and Harpers were among an estimated thousand Aggies at the game.
Both beaming parents were rooting hard for an Aggie victory, but said spending Father's Day at the ballpark with their sons watching A&M in Omaha was about as good as it gets.
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