OMAHA, Neb. - In case there still was doubt, in case there no longer was reason to believe, Fresno State again proved it can come out of even the most dire situations.

The team that had very little pitching left and showed fatigue on the field, somehow turned it up on offense to overcome a five-run deficit and keep the dream season alive.

Surviving its fifth elimination game of the NCAA Tournament, unseeded Fresno State defeated No. 8 national seed Georgia 19-10 on Tuesday before an announced crowd of 17,223 at Rosenblatt Stadium and extended its improbable run to the last possible day of the season.

Fresno State (46-31) and Georgia (45-24-1) -- tied 1-1 in this best-of-three series -- will play at 4 p.m. today to decide the national championship.

"That's not the first time this club has answered the bell when they had to," Fresno State coach Mike Batesole said. "I'm very proud of the way they played.

"[Tuesday] puts us in a place where we have a chance to win [today]."

Fresno State amassed a CWS-high this year with 19 runs and 19 hits in rallying from a 5-0 hole after 2 1/2 innings.

It tied for the largest deficit a team has overcome in the CWS championship round and marked Fresno State's largest comeback victory of the year, all the while surviving a subpar pitching performance.

Then again, Fresno State was playing for a fourth straight day and most of its pitchers were fatigued or unable to throw Tuesday.

Justin Miller, starting despite having pitched 51/3 innings over the past seven days and coming off two days of rest, was torched for five runs on six hits and four runs.

Reliever Holden Sprague, who had pitched three different times in the past week for 42/3 innings, was roughed up for three runs on eight hits.

And Jake Hower, Fresno State's final pitcher of the night, had not seen action in more than a month. He made his first postseason appearance and pitched for the first time since May 17.

Hower, who had a 6.95 ERA entering the day, pitched three scoreless innings for his first save of the year.

"What we did on the mound ... what Justin Miller gave us with what he has left in the tank and what Spraguey gave us with what he has left in the tank," Batesole said, "that was pretty special."

Fresno State has placed itself in what would appear to be an advantageous position, trotting out lefty ace Justin Wilson (8-5, 4.34 ERA) against Georgia's No. 3 pitcher, Nathan Moreau (4-3, 5.22).

Both pitchers will be throwing on three days of rest, though Wilson threw 51/3 innings in his last outing compared to Moreau's 21/3 innings.

"Your arm is going to feel how it feels," Wilson said. "You might not have your best fastball, but you've still got to throw and compete.

"It's the championship game."

Fresno State also is expected to have a fresh Brandon Burke back after the closer pitched Sunday and Monday. Burke, the school's career saves leader, has amassed seven saves in the postseason.

But Georgia also will have its best reliever fresh in Josh Fields (3-2, 3.41), a first-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners who has 18 saves and 63 strikeouts in 37 innings.

Fresno State fell behind 5-0 after 21/2 innings with Georgia in tune with Miller's fastball and slider.

His speed down from the high 80-mph range to the mid-80s, Miller labored and gave up three runs in the first inning alone and did not have one easy inning.

But with its season appearing near an end -- and Georgia's lead looking to grow each inning in light of Fresno State's pitching woes -- Fresno State's bats rejuvenated the squad.

Fresno State strung together four hits for six runs in the third inning and took a 6-5 lead when Tommy Mendonca belted his fourth homer of the CWS, a three-run shot over the right-field wall.

Mendonca is tied with seven other players for the most homers in a CWS.

The fireworks were only beginning.

The next inning, Fresno State followed with a five-run fourth, amassing six hits, including a two-run blast from Steve Susdorf as Fresno State built a 11-6 lead.

But the hit that perhaps ruined Georgia's chance the most was Ryan Overland's soft single between left fielder Lyle Allen and shortstop Gordon Beckham in the critical fourth.

Had either player made the catch, Georgia would have trailed by three runs instead of five.

"It's loud," Beckham said of the costly play. "I couldn't hear him. ... I turned around and he was looking at me and thought I was going to catch it."

And the runs kept coming, with Fresno State adding four more in the fifth to extend its lead to 15-6.

"Fresno State had the merry-go-round, the circus or whatever you want to call it," Beckham said. "They were going around the bases all night."

Eight Fresno State players finished with at least two hits, including a 3-for-4 night from leadoff hitter Danny Muno, who also added four runs and two RBIs.

"Throughout the season, we knew we had the tools to do it," Susdorf said. "To put it all together, it is definitely a pretty special feeling. It's hard to explain."

Now, imagine what a win today would do.