"All I know is that this unbelievable group of young men is now going to take the next step and take a trip to Omaha," said Serrano. "I really need to wake up from this dream but I'm not ready to stop dreaming. I brought my whole staff in here because when a team usually wins, the head coach gets all the credit. That's not how we do things in this program. I'd like to thank my entire staff for helping put UC-Irvine on the map."

Matt Morris and Bryan Petersen, who delivered the game-winning hit, were all smiles.

"I just wanted to battle and put the ball in play so we could have a chance to score," said Petersen.

And what were his thoughts when the ball hit the wall?

"Game over," said Petersen. "Omaha, baby!"

As for Morris, he was huge on both ends. Not only did he score the game-winner, he made a huge diving catch in the top of the eighth to keep Irvine ahead.

"I didn't get a great read on the ball, I admit that," said Morris. "I was listening for Ollie and I couldn't hear him with the crowd, so I decided to do whatever I needed to do to go for the ball."

So Irvine heads to Omaha for the first time. However, don't expect any jitters from Serrano or his team.

"We're not going to Omaha just to go," said Serrano. "If we're going, we might as well play for the national championship."

Given what we saw this weekend, that's a very real possibility for UC Irvine.