Only one more strike was needed.

In the bottom of the ninth inning against Eastern Kentucky, junior catcher Marcus Nidiffer was facing a one-ball, two-strike count, down a run. Nidiffer kept the Cats alive with a single down the left side.

One pitch later, with an unlikely suspect at the plate, the Cats stormed the field.

“He crushed it,” UK baseball head coach Gary Henderson said.

Sophomore second baseman Chris Bisson stepped up to the plate with the winning run on first. Bisson knocked in his first career home run in his 78th career at-bat. The walk-off bomb gave the Cats a 9-8 win over the Colonels on Wednesday.

Bisson thought back to a year ago when Keenan Wiley hit his first career home run — a grand slam — to give the Cats a walk-off win over rival Louisville.

This time it was Bisson’s turn, and he liked the first pitch he saw: a middle-in fastball.

“(Wiley’s hit) kind of inspired me because I got to sit and I got to be a part of that last year,” Bisson said, “so I really wanted to come in and just put a good swing on the ball.”

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Entering the ninth inning, the Cats (6-2) held a 7-3 advantage and seemed to be in good shape to earn their sixth win of the season.

After a three-run EKU surge, UK had a chance to end the game. With a man on third for EKU, down one with two outs and two strikes facing the batter, a ground ball was dribbled over to sophomore shortstop Chris Wade, and as many UK fans got up thinking the game was over, the unthinkable happened: Wade threw it away, tying up the game. It was an error Bisson said Wade would commit one time out of 100.

After another EKU score, the Cats entered the ninth inning down for the first time in the game, with the mindset of getting someone on base.

“We’ve all been to a baseball game when you’re one pitch from the game being over and taking a tough loss,” Henderson said. “Then you get a base hit, now you have some life. Then Bisson puts a good hit on the ball, and everybody’s happy.”

Early in the game, it never appeared that dramatics would be necessary. UK scored three runs in the second inning thanks to a three-run home run to right field by freshman right fielder Chad Wright. The Cats tacked three more runs on the board in the fifth inning, including Bisson’s first hit against a left-handed pitcher in 19 career attempts.

For the Cats, defense was a big factor in the game. After giving up 14 walks, UK forced EKU into leaving 17 runners on base for the game. Until the ninth inning, the Cats allowed just three runs. More importantly to Henderson was the ability of the Cats to respond to adversity, including the ninth inning Wednesday night.

“That’s a hallmark of a good group of kids, there’s no question,” Henderson said. “We’ve responded in five of the last seven innings we’ve been scored against — that’s tough to do. Obviously it speaks to the character of the kids, and their competitiveness. That’s a trait we’d like to hold on to.”