OMAHA, Neb. -- When Brian Howard gets rolling, just leave him alone.
On the mound, in the dugout, Howard seeks solitude as he pitches. It flies entirely in the face of his mentality in nearly every other life situation. But it works.
In June, it really works.
Howard, a 6-foot-9 right-hander, fired seven innings Tuesday in TCU's 4-1, elimination-game win over Texas A&M at the College World Series. He fanned 12 Aggies and walked none to move his NCAA postseason record to 6-0 with a 1.87 ERA over 10 appearances, including seven starts.
"I'm not going to apologize for losing to him," A&M coach Rob Childress said.
The Horned Frogs call him Big Game Howie. Somewhere exists a white hat, created by the mother of freshman pitcher Charles King and bedazzled with Howard's moniker.
A senior from St. Louis, he is the ultimate character for TCU, back in Omaha for the fourth consecutive year. Coach Jim Schlossnagle, in discussing Howard's role as a leader before the CWS, described him as "the funniest guy on the planet."
"He's always got something to say," Schlossnagle said, "except on the day that he pitches."
TCU shortstop Ryan Merrill lives with Howard in Fort Worth.
"I'm his roommate," Merrill said, "so I get to wake up with it."
Between his innings on the mound, Howard sits stone-faced, his back against the dugout wall as the Horned Frogs hit.
He refused Tuesday to make eye contact with Texas A&M's Walker Pennington, a transfer from TCU and one of Howard's best friends, when Pennington came to the plate in the second inning.
As catcher Evan Skoug has learned, mound visits are discouraged.
"Brian doesn't always like it when I go out there," Skoug said. "Most of the time, I'm just trying to give him a breather, make a joke, get him out of his own head. He shoves me off."
Skoug stayed in his crouch for seven innings Tuesday as Howard pounded the strike zone. After surrendering a double to George Janca to open the eighth inning, Howard was finished, having thrown 70 of 91 pitches for strikes.
"Today was probably the best stuff I had all season," Howard said.
He picked quite a moment for such a performance. But that's nothing new. In his past six postseason starts, all wins, Howard has five times allowed one run and once allowed two runs. He won the 2016 regional and super-regional clinching games, then repeated the feat this year.
"It's pretty much expected," Skoug said. "That's what makes him so special."
Howard's pitching alter-ego returned Tuesday after his eighth-inning removal. ESPN cameras captured him fully energized in the third-base dugout.
According to Howard, he's just trying to live up to TCU's core values: selflessness, excellence and energy.
"When I was young here, I didn't really have the first two core values, so I had to really step it up on the third," Howard said. "That's just kind of been my thing."
As for his nickname, Big Game Howie, Howard embraces it, although he said teammates who coined the name are actually making fun of him because his spotless performances sometimes go missing in the regular season.
Still, Howard, 12-3 this year after Tuesday, is the first TCU pitcher to win 10 games or more in consecutive seasons.
"It just seems like when there's a big game, I do have success," Howard said.
"I'd look pretty dumb if I went out and gave up eight runs today. They'd probably revoke the nickname pretty quickly."