Walk into virtually any home in practically any neighborhood in nearly any city in America and the rule for the kids is probably the same: No throwing balls in the house.

Justin Moore’s childhood home in New Orleans had rules about throwing in the house, too. They were just much different than most of the households in America.

"Our household rules were more centered around hitting the target, following through and so forth," joked Roy Moore, the father of Texas A&M sophomore pitcher Justin Moore. "My wife, Linda, was actually Justin’s first coach in Little League. And I can pretty much assure you I never heard the words, ‘Don’t throw in the house.’ Our covered practice facility was the hallway."

Indeed, the 6-foot-4 Moore probably gives new meaning to the term "homegrown talent." And perhaps nobody on the current A&M roster feels quite as home in Aggieland as Moore.

When he wasn’t pitching to his mother as a kid, Moore was usually planning his next trip to College Station. Both Roy and Linda Moore graduated from A&M in 1976. Ten years and two children later, they became endowed donors of the 12th Man Foundation.

As season ticket holders for A&M football games, the Moores made at least six–and often many more–14-hour, roundtrip drives per year from the Big Easy to College Station.

In other words, Justin Moore didn’t just grow up dreaming about becoming a baseball player. His specific lifelong vision was to be an Aggie baseball player.

From the time he was a toddler, nothing else sounded as sweet to Moore as wearing the maroon and white and stepping onto the hill at Olsen Field. He attended baseball camps, football camps and basketball camps in Aggieland while growing up, always dreaming of the time when he would officially enroll at A&M.

He had other suitors in high school. And as a tremendously gifted athlete, Moore was even offered the opportunity to play college football at other universities.

But the dream destination all along was Olsen Field. In fact, he still owns Chuck Knoblauch’s dirt-stained wristband as proof.

"I have so many childhood memories of Texas A&M that a lot of them kind of run together," said the well-spoken Moore, whose older sister, Laura, graduated from A&M in December 2001 with a marketing degree. "Going to football games was always a great experience, because Kyle Field is one of a kind.

"But one of my favorite memories was when A&M used to play at (the University of New Orleans). I guess it was 1987, and I talked my dad into staying around after one of the games. I wanted a wristband, and my dad was pointing out different players. I kind of looked around and I said, ‘No, I want him right there.’ He looked on the roster and he says, ‘That guy is just a freshmen.’

"Well, I didn’t care. For whatever reason, I wanted his wristband. I asked him for it and he gave it to me and he walked with us to the car before getting on the bus. He was real nice. It turned out it was Chuck Knoublach. I still have it today. I remember a lot of stuff like that, and I always, always knew I wanted to be an Aggie."

That’s why Roy Moore looks back on a weekend in 1999 as one of the happiest times in his life. It was the weekend A&M baseball coaches invited Justin Moore to campus and then offered him a scholarship.

"I’ve never won the lottery," said Roy Moore. "But I imagine that’s the same feeling I had that weekend. It wasn’t so much that he was following our footsteps or anything of the sort. It was just the fact that he was fulfilling a lifelong dream. And it was really very important to him that they really wanted him."

A&M head coach Mark Johnson wanted him. But Johnson quickly acknowledges he never envisioned Moore would become what he is today –the No. 1 starter of a nationally ranked team.

Justin Moore has been an A&M fan–of football and everything else–since he was a toddler.

"What we knew was that he had strong character, a good work ethic and strong Aggie ties," Johnson said. "We knew that wearing our uniform was going to be big for him. But I can’t sit here and say we had all this planned for him. At the time, we weren’t even completely sold on him being a Division I pitcher."

Moore was being recruited by schools such as Arkansas, Oklahoma State and Southern Mississippi as a wide receiver. And from a baseball standpoint, he was primarily being viewed as a smooth-hitting third baseman.

In fact, it was his powerful stroke–and not his right arm–that first sold A&M coaches on Moore. His family moved from New Orleans to Houston when Moore was in third grade, and by the time he was in high school at Katy Taylor, Moore was a hot prospect at the hot corner.

He led the district as a junior in 1998 with a .519 batting average and led the Mustangs into the playoffs as a senior with a .400 average in district play. He was also a solid pitcher in the prep ranks, but nothing spectacular.

"What really got us over the hump in recruiting him is that he hit some home runs as a senior, and he came in here as a third baseman/pitcher," Johnson said. "He didn’t really distinguish himself as an unbelievable pitcher. He was a good high school pitcher, but he wasn’t throwing in the 90s, didn’t thrown an unbelievable, biting breaking pitch or really anything else to really separate himself. But at any rate, when he arrived here, we finally decided to get him to concentrate on pitching, which I think was the right choice."

"A brilliant choice" might be a better description. During his redshirt season in 2000, Moore and A&M pitching coach Jim Lawler completely overhauled his motion, delivery and pace.

The changes have produced astonishing results. Moore is still not overpowering, working at 85 or 86 mph on most nights. But he has a heavy-sinking fastball, works both sides of the plate, gets plenty of ground-ball outs and relies on a bulldog mentality.

"He gets the sinker in, and he’s not afraid to throw in," Johnson said. "He doesn’t overpower you. He’ll throw a breaking pitch, then he’ll throw a changeup on the outside corner and just boom you with an 86 or 87 mph on the inside corner, and it looks like it’s at 100.

"He doesn’t always throw shutouts and doesn’t always have his stuff, but he keeps you in games and finds a way to get it done. I have a lot of admiration for him. I’m glad he’s on my team."

He’s certainly been a catalyst of the A&M pitching staff for the last two season. As a redshirt freshman, Moore broke onto the scene by going 7-3 with a 3.39 earned-run average and earned freshman All-American honors.

He’s been even better in 2002. As of mid-April, Moore had compiled a 5-1 record with a sparkling 2.89 ERA. The Aggies’ Friday night starter also has pitched 30 more innings than anybody on the roster.

And even when he has been roughed up a little, the crafty right-hander has been "Moore" than anyone at A&M could have ever imagined.

Take the Aggies’ 8-7 victory over Baylor on April 19, for example. Moore surrendered five runs in the first two innings and simply didn’t have his best stuff. But he endured the early innings and retired nine batters in a row during one memorable stretch. And even when he surrendered a solo home run in the ninth to cut A&M’s lead to 8-7 and Baylor put runners at first and third with one out, Johnson stuck with him.

Justin Moore pictured with R.C. Slocum after taking part in Slocum's 1993 summer football camp.

It was a wise decision, as Moore coaxed a double play to end the game. He allowed seven runs and 12 hits on 136 pitches, but Moore–as he almost always does–gave the Aggies an opportunity to win.

"Our guys have a lot of faith in Justin," Johnson said. "He’s a hard-nosed guy who is not going to give in to a batter or a situation. You really have to like his mentality. He knows his strengths and he knows his limitations."

He also knows exactly what he wants to do during the remainder of his Texas A&M career. Moore arrived at A&M in 2000, the year after the Aggies last made it to the College World Series.

But in the summer following his redshirt freshman season, Moore played for the Kearney River Bandits, an amateur summer league team in Missouri. It was while Moore was playing in Kearney, a city of about 1,800 residents just northeast of Kansas City, that he first had the opportunity to visit Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium for the College World Series.

He instantly fell in love with the facility, the CWS and the idea of leading the Aggies back there.

"It was an awesome event," Moore said. "And it’s certainly one of my dreams to help get us there. That would be dream come true. It would also be a lot better circumstances than the last time I was up there."

The last time he was "up there" Moore learned as much about beef as he did baseball. He and A&M teammate Eric Reed played for Kearney River at night, but during the day they formed a farm team of sorts.

"We lived with a family who owned a livestock sales barn, and we would get up in the mornings and work the barn from about 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.," Moore said. "I’m sure the guy we worked for figured that since we were from A&M, we would know our way around the barn, but going out there, we knew absolutely nothing about cattle. He would tell us to put the steers in this pen and the heifers in this pen.

"We were looking around like, ‘Who is he talking to?’ We didn’t know how to tell them apart. We screwed up a lot of stuff at first. But we had a lot of fun out there and learned a whole new lifestyle. It was hard work. It was 100 degrees, and we were outside bailing hay all day and building fences and stuff like that. We would go to the field some days exhausted. I learned two things that summer–about the CWS and about how I wanted to continue working toward my degree in finance."

Other than working toward his degree and trying to earn the Aggies a trip to Omaha, Moore says he isn’t looking too far toward the future. He would eventually love to pursue his dream of a major league career, but he isn’t planning for it, and he certainly isn’t worried about what his draft status will be this time next year.

He is, after all, already fulfilling a lifelong dream by pitching in Aggieland.

Moore has become a solid Friday night starter for the Aggies. His fiery performance against Baylor helped the Aggies notch an 8-7 victory.

"I’m not going to worry about the big leagues," Moore said. "I’ve seen too many guys who are draft-eligible mess themselves up by worrying about how to impress scouts. If I’m drafted early, I’d have to weigh some options, but I am not saying I wouldn’t come back for a senior year at all. That would be a huge possibility for me, because I love it here so much.

"And probably the idea of getting my Aggie ring appeals more to me than it does a lot of kids on the team. Regardless of what happens, I am always going to finish my school here. My parents have instilled that in me. Even if I somehow make it to the major leagues and play for years, I am going to get my Aggie ring. That would mean as much to me as a Big 12 title ring, because I’ve known I wanted to be part of this university from day one."

No matter what happens, Moore says he will always be especially grateful to his coaches. To Mark Johnson for giving him a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of playing at A&M. To Jim Lawler for revamping his pitching motion and working so diligently with him. And, of course, to his first coach, Linda Moore, for allowing him to throw in the house and many other things.

"She has been my best coach and my biggest critic," Moore said of his mother. "She’s eased up on me a little nowadays. In high school, if I didn’t play well, she wouldn’t cook or talk to me for a while. But she has been an incredible influence on me.

"Even now, when I go home and I am outside playing with my little brother (David), it’s exactly the same. Mom is pushing him to do stuff and to work hard. And she can still play catch with me, and I am throwing at her pretty hard. She still throws batting practice and it’s neat. I’m very grateful to her and my dad for introducing me to Texas A&M and helping me live out a dream."