WATCH: Ole Miss returns home as National Champions
OXFORD, Miss. (WMC) - The Ole Miss Rebels are back in Oxford after winning the 2022 Men’s College World Series.
The team was greeted by a wall of fans at the Walk of Champions on campus Monday afternoon.
The Southeastern Conference has been Dominant in College Baseball for at least a decade.
That Dominance finds its way to Oxford, Mississippi as the Ole Miss Rebels return home after winning their First College World Series Title.
The Rebels pulled off one of the most improbable championship runs in college baseball history.
Ole Miss finished below .500 in SEC play, almost missed the conference tournament altogether, then was one of the last teams in the field of 64 all of that culminated with this today, appropriately down the walk of champions.
“It was unreal. We didn’t really know what to expect when we got off the bus, and we pulled up and the whole city is here,” said Hayden Leatherwood, Ole Miss senior, and Collierville native.
They came to show appreciation for a team that took them on the ride of a lifetime.
In a matter of two months, the Rebs went from afterthoughts to college baseball immortality.
Even at their lowest, they thought this was realistic.
“100 percent, 100 percent. Never stop believing, that’s one of the bigger things in our program,” said Jackson Kimbrell, Ole Miss junior pitcher.
“If I had to simplify it in one word, it would be belief. I know belief has been thrown around a lot, but that’s pretty much what it is. If you get on social media when we were going through that rough patch, you can believe what somebody says or you can’t. And we didn’t, we knew what we were capable of doing,” said Leatherwood.
That belief carried them to a moment they’ve dreamed of since they were kids. Except reality was even better than fantasy.
“It just erupted, it was crazy. I’m pretty sure I went numb. One from being at the bottom of the dogpile, but two just the euphoria,” said Kimbrell.
“A bunch of tears. It was a rewarding feeling. We worked so hard for this, been through a lot together,” said Leatherwood.
The celebration will last a long time.
“It’s time to party,” said Leatherwood.
Well for almost everyone on the team.
“I got class starting on Thursday, so I’ve got to hit the books,” Kimbrell said.
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