Remembering the Ole Miss Rebels' 2022 Championship Moment in Omaha

Two years ago, the Rebs got hot and finished the job, bringing the first national championship back to Swayze Field.

Jun 26, 2022; Omaha, NE, USA; The Ole Miss Rebels celebrate winning the National Championship and the College World Series against the Oklahoma Sooners at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports / Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

The college baseball world is ablaze right now with the drama going down in the Lone Star State after Jim Schlossnagle has taken the job at Texas after losing the national title series with rival Texas A&M.

While the Ole Miss Rebels have struggled the past couple of seasons, nobody can take the memories from the 2022 championship run away. Wednesday marks the two-year anniversary of the CWS title, so with this in mind, let's recap the game that changed the Ole Miss baseball program forever.

Hunter Elliott got the start for the Rebs in game two as he and Dylan DeLucia were basically starters 1A and 1B throughout the latter half of the season.

Elliott cruised through his first couple innings of work, piling multiple strikeouts and locating well, forcing weak contact. The freshman looked unfazed on the biggest stage, staying cool even when Oklahoma had a runner on second with one out in the top of the sixth.

The Sooners dropped down a perfect sac bunt that was thrown down the line and scored the first run of the game and set Oklahoma up for a big inning. Head coach Mike Bianco saw the replay and noticed that the runner was inside the baseline, which, if correct, would move the runners back to the original bags and would take the run off the board.

Bianco challenged and won, which was a huge turning point in the momentum of the game. Elliott forced a fly ball from the next Sooner hitter and got out of the inning.

Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez had a very pedestrian postseason, but a long ball in the bottom of the seventh put the Rebels up 1-0 late.

The Sooners didn't go quietly though, as a double then walk and another double tied the game at one. Oklahoma then took the lead after the Rebels had walked the bases loaded.

The Rebels turned to John Gaddis in the top of the seventh to try and get out of the bases-loaded jam. Gaddis had struggled throughout the season after transferring from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi but now found himself on the mound in the biggest situation of the year. He got the strikeout, and the crowd exploded as the inning had a chance to get out of hand.

The Sooners starter, Cade Horton, had been dealing all day, and the Rebels needed to knock him out if they wanted to try and close out the series. TJ McCants played the hero role once again with a line drive single up the middle that chased Horton out of the ballgame.

Justin Bench also singled, and then Gonzalez followed with another base hit to drive in McCants and tie the game at two.

Tim Elko came to the plate, and the fairy tale ending looked to be in play with Elko playing the hero role once again. That didn't quite play out, but a wild pitch in Elko's at-bat scored Justin Bench, and just like that, the Rebels had the lead with three outs remaining to win a national championship. Another wild pitch in Kevin Graham's at-bat scored Gonzalez, and the Rebs had that ultra-important insurance run.

Brandon Johnson entered the game on the mound with a certain swagger, and you just knew the Sooners weren't going to touch him. Johnson struck out the side, and the celebration began: the Ole Miss Rebels were national champions.

This was a magical season in Oxford that even the writers in Hollywood couldn't script. The 2022 Ole Miss Rebels will always be remembered for their historic run in the face of adversity where most of the country had counted them out.