Ole Miss Rebels sweep Oklahoma Sooners to win first Men’s College World Series title

OMAHA, Neb. — The last team to get into the NCAA baseball tournament was the last team standing.

Ole Miss scored twice on wild pitches in a three-run eighth inning and the Rebels won their first national baseball title, sweeping Oklahoma in the Men’s College World Series finals with a 4-2 victory Sunday.

The Rebels (42-23) became the eighth national champion since 2009 to come out of the Southeastern Conference and third straight, and the trophy will stay in the Magnolia State for another year. Mississippi State won last year.

“There is so much to be said for how much we overcame this year, how much we had to fight through, how much we had to pick each other up and never let ourselves get down,” team captain Tim Elko said. “The story of our season is going to be told for years and years to come.”

Ole Miss benefited from a runner-interference call that took a run away from Oklahoma (45-24) in the sixth inning. The Rebels also overcame a spectacular pitching performance by Cade Horton, who set a MCWS finals record with 13 strikeouts.

Brandon Johnson struck out the side in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to set off a celebration on the field and in the stands where the majority of the 25,972 were Rebels fans dressed in Ole Miss powder blue. Catcher Hayden Dunhurst ran to the mound to embrace and then tackle Johnson after Sebastian Orduno swung and missed on the final pitch.

It was an improbable journey for the Rebels and 22nd-year coach Mike Bianco, who was under fire when his team sat at 22-17 overall and 7-14 in SEC play on May 1.

“I think they’ve showed a lot of people that you can fall down, you can stumble and you can fail, but that doesn’t mean you’re a failure,” Bianco said. “If you continue to work hard, you continue to push and you continue to believe, you can accomplish anything. That’s not some poster or some tweet to motivate you. We’ve all heard that. These guys have lived that this season.”

Ole Miss beat out North Carolina State for the final at-large bid and had to…