By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Whether former Boerne High School pitcher Zane Badmaev will get a chance to take the mound for the Texas A&M Aggies in the College World Series remains, at the moment, as a question without an answer.

In his first season with the Aggies, the redshirt senior transfer from Tarleton State University appeared in only 16 games and pitched 23 and 1/3 innings.

He pitched all of seven innings in three games in Southeastern Conference play and didn’t get on the field in the NCAA playoffs until Sunday night at home against the Oregon Ducks.

Against Oregon, Badmaev stated his case to be considered as a CWS bullpen option, entering Game 2 of the Bryan-College Station Super Regional in the bottom of the sixth. He retired three of four batters without yielding a hit or a run.

When he walked back to the dugout with the rest of his teammates, the Aggies trailed 8-4. By the time the Aggies had finished batting in the top of the seventh, they had exploded for nine runs and were leading 13-8.

Thus, Badmaev became the pitcher of record.

By the end of the night, with the Aggies eventually celebrating a 15-9 victory, the one and only player from the San Antonio area on the Texas A&M roster became the winning pitcher in a game that vaulted the program to its eighth College World Series.

“We did not play well at all early,” Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said in postgame interviews. “Could not (find) a pitcher to throw strikes and (we) threw the ball around the field a little bit. But, Zane Badmaev was the winning pitcher today, right?

“Pretty awesome for him.”

Notable

Officials announced that Texas A&M will open in the College World Series on Saturday at 6 p.m. against Florida.