Ole Miss rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to edge OU and claim the program’s first national championship.
“Just so proud to get to this point,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “We’ve talked about it the whole time here but even before here, the journey that this team has been through and where they’ve come from. I’ve talked about the great leadership of Tim and not just seniors but upperclassmen. I don’t think we get to this point without that. I’m just so happy for them. I’m happy for all these guys and what they’ve done to put themselves in position, to learn life lessons here.”
The starting pitchers dominated the first half of the contest, Hunter Elliott for the Rebels and Cade Horton for the Sooners. Ole Miss stranded two in the bottom of the fourth, but the game remained scoreless into the sixth.
OU thought it took the lead in the top of the sixth. Jackson Nicklaus was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Diego Muniz. Nicklaus went to third on a wild pitch and came home on a bunt by John Spikerman. Ole Miss challenged the play, claiming runner’s interference. The call was overturned and the run was taken off the board. A flyout ended the inning.
“By chance,” Bianco said, “because I don’t look at the Jumbotron a lot, I just looked up, not because of that, and I went, my gosh, he’s out of the running lane. So that’s why I ran on the field. Credit goes to the scoreboard guy.”
Jacob Gonzalez (3 for 4, 2 R, 2 RBI) belted a homer in the bottom of the sixth as the Rebels took a 1-0 lead.
The Sooners would take the lead in the seventh. With two away, Jimmy Crooks doubled and Wallace Clark walked. Nicklaus doubled to drive in Crooks and tie the game 1-1. Kendall Pettis walked with the bases loaded to plate Clark with the go-ahead run as OU took a 2-1 advantage.
Ole Miss put together the winning rally in the bottom of the eighth. TJ McCants had a one-out single and went to third on a base hit by Justin Bench. Gonzalez singled to plate McCants with the tying run. Bench went to third on the base hit and scored on a wild pitch as the Rebels took a 3-2 edge. Gonzalez went to third on a groundout and came home on a wild pitch as Ole Miss went up 4-2.
Brandon Johnson took over on the mound and struck out the side in the top of the ninth to record his 12th save, securing the victory and the championship.
“It was a dream come true,” Johnson said. “Ever since you’re a little kid, you dream of being on the mound in those situations. And when it happened, you just let go of yourself because you realize that you did do it.”
Elliott pitched 6.2 innings with three hits, two runs, two walks and six strikeouts. John Gaddis (4-2) earned the win, going 1.1 innings with no hits, one walk and two punchouts.
Horton hurled 7.1 innings for OU with four hits, two runs, no walks and 13 strikeouts.
“We fought our butts off all day long,” OU head coach Skip Johnson said, “and Cade was outstanding. I think that us losing the momentum in the game really cost us,”