HOOVER, Ala. — UK had plenty of reasons to pack it in on Thursday night.With true freshman Zack Brown starting opposite Mississippi State ace Ross Mitchell, the Bulldogs had a clear advantage on paper, an advantage the Wildcats paid little attention to.Falling behind on three separate occasions and relying on a depleted pitching staff throwing for the third time in three days, a UK victory seemed unlikely to most anyone at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.But inside the UK dugout, it was another story entirely.”The fight was outstanding,” UK head coach Gary Henderson said. “It wasn’t terribly clean there a few different times, but I thought the fight and the competitiveness and the spirit was outstanding.”Ever the perfectionist, Henderson was likely still thinking about some of those miscues as he fell asleep in the wee hours of Friday morning. Everyone else, however, was surely too busy reliving the way the Cats had, against all odds, just advanced to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament with a 7-6 win in 12 innings.”The game was an absolute war,” UK shortstop Matt Reida said. “Mississippi State played an incredible game and so did we and we just kept coming at each other. It could have gone either way.”At various points, it very nearly did go the Bulldogs’ way.Mississippi State jumped out to a 4-1 lead and it was that narrow only because Brown, Sam Mahar and Zack Strecker were effective in damage control. Had Mahar not escaped a two-out, bases-loaded jam when he relieved Brown in the fourth, the Bulldogs may have run away and hidden.”What it really came down to was our pitching staff today,” Reida said.Instead of it becoming a runaway, UK and an offense coming on strong late in the season remained within striking distance.”It really says a lot about our guys and the belief we have,” Reida said. “We think that we have a really good team and there’s a lot of belief, especially with our offense.”That belief first manifested itself in the form of a Micheal Thomas home run that briefly tied the game at 1-all. After MSU answered with two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, UK had an answer of its own with an RBI double by Ka’ai Tom, a sacrifice fly by Storm Wilson and an RBI single by Thomas Bernal.”I thought the quality of our at-bats was really good,” Henderson said. “You gotta be really, really pleased with Reida offensively, Micheal Thomas. Those guys came through in a big way.”Reida was in the middle of a UK rally in the eighth to tie it at 5-apiece with the first of his two doubles in a 4-for-6 performance. Thomas, the other senior in the Wildcat lineup, was 3-for-5.”There’s some production, there’s some energy, there’s some vocal leadership, there’s some words in the dugout,” Henderson said. “All of it. Those two guys did a great job.”They were far from the only ones to contribute to the win.Austin Cousino may have gone hitless in six at-bats, but he had the play most likely to make a few appearances on SportsCenter on Friday. Runners on first and third with only one out, C.T. Bradford sent a fly ball into center that seemed poised to plate the go-ahead run.Cousino had other ideas, uncorking laser of a throw. “I’ve seen him do it every now and then,” Reida said. “It seems like every big spot Cousi will just kind of pull one out of nowhere. I was right behind second base when he threw it and as soon as he let it go out of his hand I saw the trajectory and I thought, ‘Oh wow, it has a chance.’ “More than a chance, because Thomas caught the ball on the fly and slapped a tag on the speedy Derrick Armstrong to complete a double play and end the inning.It wasn’t the last time UK gunned down the potential go-ahead run at home either. Two innings later, Cody Brown took advantage of a throwing error after a single and advanced to third with one out. The infield came in as Armstrong stepped to the plate and Reida fielded a grounder just to his left. He delivered a perfect throw home, Thomas blocked the plate and the Cats escaped again.Spencer Jack was the beneficiary of both plays at home, but he deserves plenty of credit for UK’s win too.”The story, pitching wise, is Spencer Jack,” Henderson said. “That was a phenomenal effort in this environment against that club.”Jack (4-1) came on in the ninth, allowing an unearned run right off the bat. He followed it up with three straight scoreless innings and only looked better as his pitch count climbed.”Early on I worked off my slider a lot and I was struggling with it early,” Jack said. “After I think the first or second inning I just said, ‘I’ve just gotta let the thing go, trust it.’ “He had to place similar trust in his offense and the Wildcat batters rewarded him in the 12th. Reida, of course, started the proceedings with an opposite-field double. He then moved to third on a wild pitch before Dorian Hairston drew a walk. Opting to load the bases, Mississippi State next intentionally walked Cousino. Kuhn struck out, forcing Henderson to make the last in a series of tough coaching decisions. With star A.J. Reed on the bench after he was lifted for pinch runner Marcus Carson, who came around to score the game-tying run in the ninth inning, Henderson called on Zach Arnold to bat in the No. 3 spot. With the bases loaded and one out, Arnold took a simple approach to his at-bat.”Put the ball in play,” Arnold said.The sophomore backstop did just that, singling to shortstop to score Reida and trigger a raucous celebration in foul territory near first base.”There’s nothing like it, getting to enjoy the satisfaction of a big win like that with your teammates,” Jack said. “You fight so hard with them, they’re like brothers at that point. I can’t describe that.”Arnold was at the middle of it all.”There’s just a really good feel to the team and that’s really all it was,” Arnold said. “It could have been anybody up to bat and that celebration would have come out no matter what.”The joy of coming out on top in a game as competitive as Thursday’s was the reason for the celebration, but the Cats will enjoy the fruits of the victory all day on Friday. Instead of playing for a spot in the semifinal, UK will enjoy a day off and await the winner of Florida and Mississippi State.”You know how bad we need it off,” Henderson said. “It’ll be nice to get a day off and give the pitching a rest.”