FORT WORTH, Texas » TCU had already tied the game in the top of the ninth when No. 9 batter Kyle Bacak came to the plate with a runner on third base.

With a 1-0 count, Bacak got the sign that sent the Horned Frogs back to the College World Series, executing a suicide squeeze bunt as the Horned Frogs rallied for a 6-5 victory over Pepperdine on Monday.

"I really wasn’t thinking about a squeeze or anything like that," he said. "It kind of caught me by surprise at first, but it made sense."

The Frogs (47-16), the visiting team in Game 3 despite hosting the super regional, started the ninth with three consecutive hits off Pepperdine closer Eric Karch (4-2) that included Dylan Fitzgerald’s tying RBI double. There was an infield popout before Bacak bunted as Jerrick Suiter, who had reached on a high-chopping infield single, charged home from third.

Brandon Caruso and Aaron Brown homered for the Waves (43-18), the West Coast Conference regular-season champ trying to get to the College World Series for the first time since winning the 1992 national championship.

Pepperdine won the Cal Poly regional as a No. 3 seed and split a four-game series at Hawaii in March.

Stephen Hawkins, Associated Press