Confetti, beers and The Square jam-packed: Inside Ole Miss baseball's championship parade

OXFORD — It should come as no surprise that the fanbase that traveled more than 700 miles to buy more than 18,000 Jell-O shots turned up in big numbers for Ole Miss baseball's championship parade.

Thousands of fans packed North Lamar Boulevard, The Square, University Avenue and Swayze Field on Wednesday to celebrate Ole Miss baseball's College World Series championship. The players rode through town atop a double-decker bus and the coaches followed behind on top of a fire truck. 

Fans lined the sidewalks and streets holding homemade signs, chanting "Hotty Toddy" and singing along with "We Are the Champions" and "The Love Is Gone" blaring from the team bus. More than a mile from the student section in right field, fans tossed beer and water in the air for some off-Swayze showers.

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Parked at the corner of Lamar and Jackson in front of the Oxford courthouse, blue and red confetti rained on the players and coaches as cheers and applause drowned out music and replays of radio announcer David Kellum's call of the final out from Sunday's win. 

The bus made its way down University toward campus, and players started interacting with fans. Specifically, players wanted beer. Fans had it. So fans started tossing beers up onto the bus in exchange for baseballs the players were throwing down. Senior designated hitter Ben Van Cleve caught the first drink tossed onto the bus, popped the top and started chugging, drawing an even bigger round of applause.

The parade ended and fans congregated at Swayze Field, filling up nearly every seat in the concourses, more than half of the seating in left field and gathering a few stragglers in right field too. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, Oxford mayor Robyn Tannehill, chancellor Glenn Boyce and Ole Miss baseball legends Jake Gibbs and Don Kessinger joined the coaches and players on the field for the celebration.

Fans cheered some more. One by one, coaches, players and administrators were introduced and gave speeches. Athletics director Keith Carter drew the biggest round of applause when he asked senior captain Tim Elko to stand with the national championship trophy in three poses and declared one of those three poses will be the model for Elko's statue the athletic department is going to "make happen some day."

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco gave a lengthy speech thanking the fans, telling the story of the team motto "enjoy the ride." He explained how that was the team's mantra all season and ended his speech looking at the players and saying "thanks for letting me ride on the bus with you." 

Literally and figuratively, the Rebels enjoyed the ride Wednesday.

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.