Ty Bothwell had an impressive day on the mound for Indiana baseball in a 10-4 win over Southern Miss on Friday, but that won't likely be the most memorable part for the southpaw from Hebron.

After IU's opener in the NCAA tournament of the Knoxville Regional, Bothwell was joined by his girlfriend, McKayla Tucker, on the field. The two took a picture together, then Bothwell got down on one knee and proposed.

IU coach Jeff Mercer said Bothwell is like family to him.

"Ty and my dad and Mark Bennett, our local pastor, do a bible study on Monday nights and Ty has been there every Monday for four years," Mercer said. "He’s leading the charge. His girlfriend and my wife are friends. When you’re with somebody for six years, they’re a part of your family. He told me. I knew he was buying a ring months ago, a year ago."

Mercer said he made a bet with Bothwell.

"'If we make a regional, you have to propose to her at the regional,'" Mercer recalled saying to Bothwell. "He got flushed. I had a pretty good idea we were going to make it when we made the bet so I kind of had some inside information as all the prognostications were coming out. You could see all the numbers were trending in that direction.

"We talked about it and we shook on it. I said, 'If you shake on it, you’re a man of your word.’ He said, ‘I’m a man of my word,' and so we shook on it."

Morgan Colopy, who went 2-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBIs, said he is very excited for Bothwell.

"There was a preseason agreement with coach that if we made a regional that he would do it at the regional," Colopy said. "Our name popped up, I saw him look right at coach and shook your hand and said I’d do it. We kind of knew it was coming but then when we were all talking with our families we were looking around for Ty’s girlfriend."

Bothwell went 5.2 innings with nine strikeouts and two earned runs. The Hoosiers will play the winner of No. 1 overall seed Tennessee and Northern Kentucky on Saturday at 6 p.m.

"Obviously she’s a wonderful young woman and he’s a wonderful kid," Mercer said about Bothwell and Tucker. "They’ll be an incredible family and be great members of our program forever in society. So I couldn’t be happier for either one of them. They’re awesome, awesome human beings."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana baseball's Ty Bothwell gets engaged after NCAA tournament win