Meet the fan who caught TAMU’s Kaeden Kent’s grand slam

Texas A&M second baseman Kaeden Kent crushed a 2-2 pitch heading toward the Section 12 bleachers in the top of the seventh inning of the Aggies’ Super Regional game against Oregon Sunday night at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

The baseball kept coming and it was headed straight for Kretzer. Once it cleared the right-field fence 403 feet, the unblemished ball bounced off the wooden bleachers two rows in front of Kretzer. Like an outfielder fielding a ball in play, the fan caught it on the bounce.

“I just had quick hands and was able to get it,” Kretzer said.

Kent’s grand slam capped a nine-run seventh inning that turned the tide for the Aggies and allowed them to rally for their eighth College World Series berth in program history.

Olsen Field erupted with euphoria. A barrage of bubbles blurred the view of the field from the stands. A sea of ​​shirtless college-aged men behind the left-field fence at Aggie Alley tossed their drinks into the air amid the aroma of beer and body odor. And in the right-field bleachers, Aggie fans cheered in unison as Kretzer held the ball that helped put A&M on the road to Omaha.

“(It’s) one of my all-time favorite moments here at Olsen Field,” said Kretzer, A&M class of 2015. “It’s hard to put into words.”

After the immediate excitement subsided, Kretzer took a photo with the ball and gave it to Matthew Kubacak, an 8-year-old Bryan resident. The rising third grader is part of a family of Aggies and he hopes to one day play for the A&M football team.

“It was very cool,” Kubacak said of getting the ball back.

The smiles from Section 12 showed a full turn of emotion for A&M fans and players given a sloppy start by the Aggies.

Starting pitcher Shane Sdao left the game in the bottom of the first inning with an apparent injury after Oregon took a 2–1 lead on a two-run homer that cleared Section 12. This occurred a day after A&M lost star right fielder Braden Montgomery to a season-ending injury in Saturday’s 10-6 victory. The Aggies’ woes continued as Oregon followed with back-to-back home runs and then extended its lead to 7-2 after three innings thanks to two A&M errors.

Oregon led 8-4 heading into the deciding seventh inning. The Aggies had four walks and a hit by pitch to score five runs, take the lead and erase a four-run deficit. As the free bases went up, the A&M fans got louder and louder.

“They were moving the team forward,” A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We definitely didn’t play well at all early on, we couldn’t find a pitcher to throw strikes, we threw the ball down the field a little bit…but the fans were amazing.”

The hullabaloo reached a fever pitch after Kent’s grand slam. Kent said Kubacak brought the ball to him to sign after the game.

“Coming in third, I was pointing at the fans,” Kent said. “I was singling them out because they played, honestly, the biggest role in this round.”

Kretzer gave the most valuable ball of the evening, but he still brought home a souvenir. He went to Omaha when the Aggies made it in 2022 and said it would mean everything to him to see them return. Two innings after sharing his hopes, A&M sealed the deal.

“We had a second night in a row with an injury in the first inning,” Kretzer said. “It kind of took the wind out of the ballpark, so to speak. That seventh-inning rally to fight back, it was awesome.