OMAHA! Kentucky Seals First-Ever Bid to College World Series

At 12:33 a.m. on a cool June night in Lexington, the Kentucky baseball program accomplished a goal more than 100 years in the making, defeating Oregon State 3-2 in front of a delirious Kentucky Proud Park record crowd to seal a trip to college baseball’s mecca.

The Wildcats are headed to Omaha

Reliever Johnny Hummel dropped in a perfectly bended breaking ball, stranding the tying run 90 feet away and sending a dugout full of blue-clad players streaming onto the turf as gloves and caps rained down.

And in true Kentucky baseball fashion the game-winning run came on a hair-on-fire dash from Nolan McCarthy, the edgy centerfielder who has never met a moment he wasn’t ready to try and turn into something memorable.

Now, for eternity, his name will be synonymous with one of the most historical moments in the school’s athletics history. He drove in two of the three runs, scored the winner and smoked a pair of doubles that had his teammates telling assembled media he was “crazy.”

But McCarthy’s scramble and Superman slide into home only mattered because pitching coach Dan Roszel’s staff allowed just three hits in two games against one of the nation’s top offenses. Both of Oregon State’s runs came on bases loaded walks.

More than two hours after the game, both McCarthy and catcher Devin Burkes, the heart and soul of the Wildcats, smiled broadly and said the first trip came the only way it could – with the Cats kicking the door down.