LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Indiana baseball team knows how to rally. Especially when one of their own goes down.

Indiana baseball took down West Virginia, 12-6, in a back-and-forth game at Kentucky Proud Park in Friday night's NCAA regional. Third-seeded Indiana will move on to play the region's top-seeded Kentucky 6 p.m., Saturday, while second-seeded West Virginia will play fourth-seeded Ball State at noon.

"Baseball is crazy game, and the guys played well," head coach Jeff Mercer said. "They did a really good job, and a fun way to pull it out in the end, kind of in some tough circumstances, but I was very proud of them."

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Indiana found itself in an early deficit when West Virginia's Landon Wallace hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore Luke Sinnard started the game for the Hoosiers and, other than the home run, pitched an impressive game in his short outing.

Sinnard registered five strikeouts — becoming Indiana's single-season strikeout record holder with his first strikeout of the game, No. 110 — before suffering an apparent elbow injury in the top of the third inning. He attempted to continue pitching, but left the field after throwing one warmup pitch, covering his face with his glove.

"He just talked about having some discomfort, and so sat that point, you just take him out for precautionary reasons," Mercer said. "He broke the school record in strikeouts there in the first inning, I believe, and so he's been terrific. He hasn't had any discomfort before, and so it was you just gotta get him out of there just to make sure he's gonna be OK."

Mercer said the Hoosiers had multiple contingency plans in place in case Sinnard's start went awry, but nothing to cover him leaving after two innings with an injury.

Then, Brayden Risedorph got the call. And the freshman, who was making his first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, didn't know how to think when he took the mound.

"I didn't think a whole lot at all," Risedorph said. "I'm just happy to be out here, so I'm just enjoying everything I can, I mean, any time I get to go out on the mound. It's still a game at the end of the day, and to be able to be here and compete with all these guys behind me, it's just a fun time."

Risedorph inherited a runner on first base and a 3-1 Indiana lead. He hit two of his first three batters, loading the bases, before walking in a run (which was credited to Sinnard's final line). Risedorph settled in after the third, ending his outing after 3.2 innings with three earned runs and three walks.

"Luke gave us a great start, he went down, and then Risedorph came in and he kind of calmed the whole group down," center fielder Bobby Whalen said. "It's really impressive, from a freshman, calming all of us down. We rallied behind him and Luke. They threw well, and then our hitting came late, and I would say Luke and Risedorph really, really slowed us down and let us all play loose."

What was a close game broke open in the top of the ninth, when Indiana registered five runs — all with two outs. Brock Tibbitts knocked a two-RBI triple into right field, Carter Mathison scored Tibbitts on a single, and Josh Pyne finished the scoring with a two-run home run.

"I was on third base when Brock was up, and there's just this confidence that he was just going to get the job done," shortstop Phillip Glasser said. "He's an unbelievable player, and then the guys behind him, they've had great seasons, and we all just believe in each other. That's why I think the offense is as good as it is."

Hoosiers left-handed pitcher Ty Bothwell handily closed out the game in the bottom of the ninth, completing a 3 1/3-inning, one-run outing.

Bothwell's one-run outing was the culmination of a revamped pitching strategy — he came into Friday's game with a season ERA of over 7.00.

"I started playing around with my arm slots a little bit and just being a little weird," Bothwell said of his pitching turnaround. "Playing into who I am as a person, I guess, and it just kind of started taking over and helped me get my stuff back.

"... It's definitely been a big confidence booster to go out there and compete like I did last year. Just finding a way to attack hitters with my stuff and be able to put guys away has been, you know, just very big."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NCAA Lexington Regional: Indiana Hoosiers baseball beats West Virginia