Perhaps taking a bit longer than expected, the sold-out crowd at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

Ending at 11:42 p.m. CT, Alabama’s 4-3 walk-off win over Nicholls State in the Tuscaloosa Regional of the NCAA baseball tournament took an unconventional route. Delayed by weather in the opener, the No. 16 national-seed Crimson Tide thrice fell behind the Southland Conference champs before ending things 18 minutes before midnight.

It was Jim Jarvis’ two-out single in the bottom of the ninth that scored William Hamiter from second to send the home crowd happy.

“I tried to just stay on the fastball like every at bat,” Jarvis said. “The main thing was to just stay in rhythm and not let the moment speed me up and I just got lucky.”

And then he got mobbed by teammates who tried to rip the jersey off the shortstop’s chest.

“It got stuck on my arm so I had it the entire time,” he said. “They were yanking on it pretty hard. I mean, I was just trying to keep my feet under me and a little bit of breath in my body. It was an unreal moment. It was like a dream.”

Alabama now faces Troy, winners of an 11-10 marathon over Boston College, in the 8 p.m. CT second round Saturday.

The Crimson Tide (41-19) overcame a masterful opening four innings by Nicholls State ace Jacob Mayers. The Southland Conference freshman of the year allowed just one baserunner on a walk to Andrew Pinckney before Colby Shelton led off the fifth with a triple. The sac fly by Ed Johnson tied the game at 1-1, negating the second-inning home run off the bat of MaCrae Kendrick.

“I was feeling amazing,” Mayers said. “We live for these moments to come out here and compete against teams like Alabama. It was a great opportunity to come out and play and pitch against them. I had everything working out of the jump. I thought I could compete with anybody in the box.”

Mayers went 5 2/3 innings, allowed two earned runs on five hits with three walks to go with eight strikeouts.

“I mean, all I can say about him is his fastball is extremely electric,” Jarvis said. “I didn’t really see his slider but I think he was getting insane induced vertical break.”

Nicholls State took one-run leads again in the sixth and seventh only to see Alabama tie it in the bottom half each time. Drew Williamson’s double scored Caden Rose for the equalizer in the sixth before Mac Guscette roped a homer down the left field run in the seventh.

The Tide had chances in the sixth and eighth innings but stranded runners on third both times before ending it in walk-off fashion.

Alabama starter Luke Holman pitched the first six complete innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts.

Alton Davis picked up the win by striking out three of the four batters he faced.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.