Kent State University's baseball team has always had a flair for the dramatic.
This was a team that beat Kentucky in 21 innings during this year's regional opener.
It wasn't a surprise that, tied at 2 in the bottom of the ninth and Derek Toadvine at second base, the Golden Flashes had one more comeback in them.
Monday, it was in the Oregon Ducks' backyard.
Jimmy Rider's bloop single, landing precariously inside the foul line in left field, let Toadvine score the game-winner and send KSU to its first College World Series.
It's been a whirlwind couple of days for the players as they prepare to face Arkansas in Saturday's opener in Omaha, Neb.
Monday's victory set off a firestorm of KSU alumni and supporters posting on Facebook and Twitter about the Golden Flashes' impending trip to college baseball's Holy Grail.
Ask freshman outfielder Alex Miklos, who forgot his phone by accident in the bus outside PK Park in Eugene, Ore.
"When I finally got on the bus, I had 45 text messages and six phone calls and they still kept coming in a few hours after that - not to mention all my Twitter stuff. It's been a lot," Miklos said.
When you play baseball, watching the College World Series seems like another world - sometimes an unattainable goal. It's usually those warm-weather schools like Florida State, Florida, South Carolina and UCLA that get there - four schools in this year's final eight.
"It's a dream come true," Miklos said. "I remember watching my first College World Series when I was younger and I thought those guys were so lucky. Now, it's me and it's unbelievable. It hasn't really set in and I don't really know when it really will set in, but I'm just trying to enjoy the run and sharing this with my teammates is great."
However, KSU is an anomaly to some.
To those who follow the Golden Flashes, it's just been a matter of time.
Last season, KSU was a game away from going to the Super Regionals - losing at Texas.
This is a Golden Flashes program that won its fourth straight Mid-American Conference championship and 12th since 1992 - the year current KSU coach Scott Stricklin was a catcher for then-coach Danny Hall.
This, incidentally, is the 20th anniversary of KSU's first-ever MAC title.
"It was always focused on winning," Stricklin said. "Danny Hall started the tradition here. He was focused on winning championships and developing players.
"We won our first championship in 1992 and ever since then, we've been basically the power in the Mid-American Conference and a regional power. Now, what we've been able to accomplish, we've made ourselves into a national power."
Even fifth-year senior outfielder Joe Koch, a 2007 Austintown Fitch graduate, said he's been inundated with well wishers.
"I would say 100 people have congratulated me either via Facebook or on my cell phone," Koch said. "A lot of people I haven't talked to since I've graduated high school have since contacted me. Everyone is proud and excited, as well as a lot of family members I haven't heard from in a little while. It's been surreal."
KSU has had its share of success in it's history with most of its teams. Most notably is the 2002 KSU men's basketball team that advanced to the Elite 8 - one step away from the vaunted Final Four.
This weekend, the Golden Flashes baseball team have their time on the national stage as onlookers take in each pitch.
"The first Kent State team to go to Super Regionals and we thought that was a big deal," Miklos said. "The first Kent State team to go to the College World Series is unbelievable."