FORT WORTH, Texas -- TCU's senior catcher Kyle Bacak stepped out of the batter's box in the ninth inning of Monday's Omaha-deciding game with Pepperdine and glanced down at third-base coach Bill Mosiello.

Bacak was ahead in the count 1-0 in a tie game with runners at second and third with one out. And Mosiello, who handles the offense for the Frogs, decided to gamble.

"I was surprised to see him put on the squeeze, but I probably shouldn't have been because it was the perfect situation for it," Bacak said. "It totally made sense. I was anticipating another breaking ball. I was trying to keep the barrel up and use my knees. He threw me a breaking ball and I got the bunt down.

"I got a little excited halfway down the first-base line when I knew it was fair. I knew I had done my job. I knew that Riley [Ferrell] was going to close it out."

The fact that Mosiello, with the backing of head coach Jim Schlossnagle, trusted Bacak enough to make that call with a trip to the College World Series on the line shows how far the Frogs' catcher has come in a little more than a year.

It was just last April that he sat in Schlossnagle's office, which overlooks Lupton Stadium on the edge of campus, and received the lecture of a lifetime. To call it a meeting would infer that there was some sort of exchange of ideas between the two men. That wasn't the case.