OMAHA, Neb. -- Robert Beary hoped his father was watching Sunday night's College World Series opener for South Carolina against Texas A&M.

Seven thousand three hundred miles away in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Kevin Beary, a county sheriff in Florida for 16 years, is a government contractor hired to help the Afghan government establish a stable police force throughout the region. He's been working there since last October.

Since the Taliban and other enemies of the government there typically target police stations for suicide bombings, it's extremely dangerous work.

However, Kevin Beary accepted the challenge and is now serving his second stint in Afghanistan. He was there for about six months a couple of years ago.

"There's danger all over," Robert said. "They lose guys all the time. And it's not always gun fire. It's suicide bombings. He's been taught to keep his head down. He's learning a lot, but he's teaching them a lot too. It's a good combination over there. It's what the country needs."

With Robert playing on college baseball's biggest stage, father and son took time out on Father's Day to chat on the phone.

"I wrote him a Happy Father's Day e-mail and talked to him on the phone earlier today (Sunday) before the game," Robert said. "He told me about six to eight guys were going to stay up. Because of the time difference it was about three o'clock in the morning there."

Kevin Beary returned to the United States for a brief time in the spring and watched Robert play in the Auburn series April 29-May 1.

"I ended up having a decent series," Robert said, adding his father could return to the US as early in October.

Beary was a central figure in USC's dramatic 5-4 victory over the Aggies at TD Ameritrade Park, especially in the bottom of the ninth when he led off the eventual game-winning rally by rifling a 1-2 pitch to deep right for a double.

"Before I walked up to the plate, I was whispering to myself that I had to hit one for my father," Beary said. "It ended up going to two strikes, but I got a good pitch and put a good swing on it and was hoping for the best.

Beary thought for a millisecond about trying for third, but decided against it, settling for his 13th double of the season.

"When I saw the ball go off the wall and it coming towards the infield, I thought I had third," Beary said. "But I felt my coach holding me up and I didn't want to make the first out at third. So I just listened to him and stayed there."

He moved to third on Jackie Bradley Jr.'s single to left before scoring the run that advanced USC into the winner's bracket on Scott Wingo's fourth walk-off hit of the year.

"Coach Tanner told me before the inning started that I needed to get on base," Beary said. "I knew my job. From having caught John Taylor and (Jose) Mata, I knew I had to sit back to have a good chance of squaring something up. I had a couple of swings where he threw him inside and I didn't get my hands in quick enough. You just to look for something up. He left a pitch up and I put a pretty good swing on it."

Besides starting six of the last seven games behind the plate, Beary has been red hot with the bat since post-season play started. His 2-for-4 performance on Sunday gave him multiple hits in four of the last five NCAA Tournament games. He is hitting .381 (8-for-21) during that span.

Beary, the NCAA Columbia Regional MVP, now boasts a career NCAA Tournament batting average of .400 (12-for-30). He started his 22nd game of the season at catcher against Texas A&M.

However, Beary's versatility has been well documented. He has also started games in left (8), right (22), DH (3) and third (1).

USC overcame the frustration of Texas A&M's four-run first inning - Beary and pitcher Michael Roth included - by scoring four runs of their own in the bottom half of the first and then keeping the Aggies scoreless over the final eight innings to pull out the walk-off win.

"Everybody's emotions were a little jacked up, including the person behind the plate, but that's how baseball is," Beary said. "You just have to settle down, play your game and don't get out of control. I trust my team and I trust Roth to battle. I had a good feeling that we were going to do the same thing to their pitcher. I had that confidence in my team. We answered the call and did well."

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