LISTEN: Ole Miss Radio's David Kellum Calls Final Out of Rebel National Title
The Ole Miss Rebels are the 2022 baseball national champions.
A month ago, the future of the Ole Miss season and that of head coach Mike Bianco were in jeopardy. On Sunday, they claimed the first national championship in program history.
The Rebels claimed a 4-2 win in a pitchers' duel mastered by Hunter Elliott and the Oklahoma Sooners' Cade Horton. It took a one-out baserunner while trailing 2-1 in the eighth inning to chase Horton from the game, and the Rebels were able to get to Sooner closer Trevin Michael, putting up three runs in the bottom half to take the final 4-2 lead.
Jacob Gonzalez, who had been slumping at the plate in Omaha, helped the Rebels draw first blood on Sunday with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Oklahoma would claim a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh, chasing Hunter Elliott and reliever Mason Nichols before John Gaddis was able to stop the bleeding with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the eighth, T.J. McCants worked a one-out single to chase Horton from the game. McCants and Justin Bench worked a hit-and-run in the next at bat to put runners at the corners, and a Jacob Gonzalez single tied the game. Two more Rebel runs came across in the frame via wild pitches from Michael.
Rebel closer Brandon Johnson came in the game in the ninth inning to record the final three outs. That's when Ole Miss radio play-by-play announcer David Kellum was able to celebrate.
Kellum has been the voice of Rebel baseball for over 40 years, and he finally had the opportunity to announce the program's first national championship to listeners across the country.
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