Lafayette, La. – The Arizona Wildcats won their third game in two days Monday night to capture the Lafayette NCAA Regional at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. The Cats topped the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns 3-1 in a winner-take-all regional final game to advance to the Super Regionals.

Arizona will now travel to Mississippi State to take on the Bulldogs. The winner of the best-of-three series will advance to the College World Series in Omaha. A start date for that series is expected to be announced late Monday or early Tuesday.

“The word champion means a lot to me,” coach Jay Johnson said after the win. “And this team can call themselves regional champions. That is very special.”

The Cats advanced Monday thanks to excellent pitching from right-hander Kevin Ginkel and left-hander Cameron Ming . Ginkel, who earned the save in the first game Monday, started in the nightcap and went 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on four hits and two walks. He struck out three. He gave way to Ming in the sixth, and the lefty carried it the rest of the way.

Ming went 3 1/3 innings to earn his first career save. Ginkel improved to 4-1 on the season with the clutch pitching performance. After the win, the team dogpiled in celebration between the mound and first base bag.

“The last time I was in a dogpile, I was 12,” Ming said with a smile. “Guys are a lot bigger now. I was just trying not to get hurt.”

Like they did in the opening game Monday, the Cats struck first, putting up a crooked number in the first inning. Zach Gibbons started the rally with a one-out single. After a strikeout, Ryan Aguilar grounded a ball through the right side. He hustled into second for a double and as he did, right fielder Steven Sensley's throw was off the mark to second, allowing Gibbons to score and Aguilar to move up to third.

With JJ Matijevic batting, Aguilar came home on a wild pitch to give Arizona a 2-0 lead. Matijevic eventually walked and Bobby Dalbec followed with a single, but the two were stranded when a strikeout ended the inning.

Ginkel then gave up a leadoff single in the second, but got a lineout double play to the next batter to erase the runner and then a groundout to end the inning.

Arizona then plated another run in the bottom half of the inning to increase its lead to 3-0. Louis Boyd got it going with a one-out double and then was brought home on an RBI single by Cody Ramer . Gibbons followed with a single, but Ramer was thrown out trying to steal third and Alfonso Rivas struck out to end the threat.

The three early runs stood up for the Wildcats and were enough thanks to the pitching performances from Ginkel and Ming. Ramer, Gibbons and Dalbec all finished with two-hit games in the win. Aguilar and Boyd each had doubles.

This marks Arizona's first Super Regional appearance since 2012 when the Cats captured the national championship. It's the first time in program history the Cats have won their fifth game of a regional – seventh game overall – to advance to the next round.

The Cats had to win three games in just more than 30 hours after falling to Louisiana in their second game early Sunday. Johnson's team responded, beating Sam Houston State later Sunday night and Louisiana twice on Monday to advance to the Super Regionals.

“Toughness has been redefined by this team,” Johnson said.