While the whole team and the coaching staff eagerly waited to watch both of their freshmen pitchers take the mound, the pitchers approached it like it was just a normal day.

Austin Sanders and Garrett Brummett combined for three strikeouts in their debuts during game two of the Fall World Series on Tuesday. The Gold team beat the Black team 8-7 to even the seven-game series.

“I was pretty relaxed,” Sanders said. “I just went out there and I knew I had nothing to lose.”

Brummett shared the feeling.

“I was just ready to get on the mound and pitch like it was a normal game,” he said.

Both pitchers didn’t have their command early, but found the strike zone as the game went on.

“I thought both of them in the first inning were a little bit (shaky),” said assistant coach Jim Thomas, who coached the Black team. “It was the first time they had their uniforms on and a couple of people are in the crowd. But after they settled down both of them pitched pretty effectively.”

The squads combined for 24 hits, but the Shockers as a team have some work to do defensively, as both squads combined for six errors.

“We made some routine plays not so routine. We need to do some cleaning up on both sides,” said Gold team coach Brandon Hall.

Casey Gillaspie had three hits and drove in four runs for the Gold. Daniel Kihle had three hits and drove in one run for the Gold.

The Gold Team led 6-5 in the seventh inning, but the Black tied the game in the eighth inning with two hits and the gold committing two errors.

Bob Arens had three doubles for the Black.

“Bob swung the bat really well today. The problem is that we made some mistakes defensively and allowed them to score some runs, but we got back in the game with Bob swinging well,” Thomas said.

Gene Stephenson and the coaching staff wants to use the next two weeks to build some consistency.

“Consistency is huge,” he said. “I know that this is a big program. I know that it’s true, we need to stay consistent and it’ll be a challenge.”