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As a new baseball season approaches, here’s a look back at the 2022 defending national champion Ole Miss Rebels

Posted by | Jan 27, 2023 |

As a new baseball season approaches, here’s a look back at the 2022 defending national champion Ole Miss Rebels

OXFORD, Miss. — Today Ole Miss baseball holds its annual Media Day, marking the official beginning of baseball season. Although opening day isn’t until February 17, it’s time to talk about the defending national champion Rebels. 

Before our coverage moves to the new season and new team, let’s take a look back on the magic that happened in 2022. 

Any time a team goes 10-1 in the NCAA tournament, one would guess it was somewhat of a cakewalk. Ten wins with only a one-run blemish and THE trophy was theirs — that was total dominance, right?

As everyone knows, the Rebels barely got into the NCAA tournament to begin with. They were saddled with the “Mr. Irrelevants” tag of 2022 college baseball soon after the announcement of the bracket was complete — an afterthought team that finished tied for 8th in their own conference and went on to lose its only conference tournament game.

These rag-tags were viewed by many as possibly the most underachieving outfit that college baseball had seen in quite awhile, ranking No. 1 at the start of the season, only to come crashing back down to earth. 

Many of the locals were busy browsing coaching resumes while most beat writers (not the ones at The Rebel Walk, it’s worth noting) were calling the season “as good as done,” and rumor had it that there wasn’t even a watch party planned for the team on Selection Monday.

When the Rebs sat at 7-14 in SEC play, there were two magic numbers looming — the Rebels needed 15 SEC wins to assure themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament, which meant winning 8 of their next 9. The other magic number was to win enough games to simply make the SEC Tournament. At 7-14, even this was going to take some hard work and good fortune. 

Neither scenario was a certainty.

And then, the Rebs went on a tear, sweeping LSU in Baton Rouge for the first time ever, then sweeping Missouri, yet finished the regular season by winning only one of three against A&M at Swayze. 

That left Ole Miss with 14 SEC wins, and despite the renewed energy and momentum, there was deep doubt about their future.

Next, came a one-game exit in the SEC Tournament. From there, the Rebels needed what most expected would be a miracle to get an at-large bid into the NCAA tourney. Ole Miss, historically, had been on all the wrong sides of these make-or-break situations where the NCAA is involved.

Yet, somewhere out of the foggy doldrums of a Memorial Day morning that seemed to last forever, at literally the very end of the NCAA Selection Show, the formerly dead-in-the-water Rebels heard their name called!

All that mattered now was that there were suddenly, even miraculously, at minimum another two games to play in an effort to prove their worth, to at least extend their season. There was a chance!

“Guys, we’ve got practice today!” were Coach Mike Bianco’s first words. That they did.

From all indications, the final spot in the at-large pool had gone to Ole Miss over North Carolina State. The Rebs were reportedly the 33rd pick of the 33 bids that were extended to non-title winners, and then, it was Coral Gables time. That equals 64th overall any way you look at it.

The odds were set at 65-to-1 on Ole Miss winning the NCAA championship, which was 24th-best among the 64 participants. They’d been 100-to-1 earlier in the season, so things were actually looking up. For the real number crunchers out there in the desert, apparently the Rebels were no worse than a mid-range 2-seed in this tourney. Interesting.

Coral Gables Regional

Coach Bianco’s bunch went to Coral Gables seeded third by the NCAA, but Vegas had their odds to win this regional at +180, just below Miami’s, the host team favorite at even money. No. 2-seed Arizona was third in the odds and Canisius a very distant fourth.

Did the oddsmakers know something that the NCAA committee didn’t? It appeared so.

But as luck would have it, a tropical storm was brewing and the possibility arose that there wouldn’t even be a regional played in Coral Gables and that Miami, based on NCAA rules, would then advance to the Super Regionals. 

Questions about time frames and protocols and precedents began flying everywhere. Fortunately, the tournament was only delayed for one day and play began.

And this disrespected Rebels baseball team that, according to many in the sports world, really didn’t belong there took the field against Arizona, the very team that had eliminated Ole Miss from the tourney just a year ago. 

Oddsmakers, however, installed the visiting Rebels as -155 favorites over the Wildcats. How’s this even possible? I thought Ole Miss shouldn’t even be here! Once again, seems as if Vegas had more confidence in the Rebels than the “expert” sports writers. 

And try as they might, this Ole Miss baseball team found itself down 4-2 going into the 7th inning in Game 1 as the Wildcats had broken a 2-2 tie by scoring two runs after two were out and nobody on in the 6th inning. 

Were the Rebels headed to the loser’s bracket? Were all those prognosticators right? Not so fast, my friends. 

Alderman singles and Chatagnier homers in the 7th, and it’s all tied up again! Hey, THIS team is NOT backing down!!

Josh Mallitz replaced ace Dylan DeLucia on the mound and it’s groundout, strikeout, strikeout. Boom!

The Rebels then worked the Wildcat pitchers for three walks in the top of the 8th, and with two out Chatagnier delivered a base-clearing double to give Ole Miss a 7-4 lead!

Closer Brandon Johnson then came in for the 9th inning and after runners reached second and third with nobody out and the tying run at the plate, he proceeded to strike out each of the next three hitters.

And suddenly, the Rebels had turned a 4-2 first-game loss into a trip to the winner’s bracket to face Miami!! What a turn of events for the Hotty Toddy Boys!

Meanwhile, Miami had clobbered Canisius, 11-6, in their opener and were looking to do the same to these run-of-the-mill Rebels. 

Freshman Hunter Elliott, however, got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in his first-ever postseason inning as a starting pitcher with two huge, clutch strikeouts! This is no ordinary freshman, people!

And the duel was on. The Rebels were down 1-0 to Miami with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the 7th, having left the bases loaded in the sixth, when Justin Bench and Jacob Gonzalez each singled. 

The Captain, Tim Elko, then slashed a 2-RBI double to right for the Rebels’ first lead of the game, and it’s all they’d need. 

Two huge games and two huge comebacks, both setting the stage for the greatest run in program history. “Don’t let the Rebels get hot!” 

Ole Miss scored 17 runs after breaking a 5-5 tie in the deciding game against Arizona, and the Coral Gables Regional was in the books.

The Rebels would be one of only two teams to hit Omaha undefeated through five games, and the only team to win them all on the road. It’s a rarity when this occurs and even when it has, no team had ever gone 5-for-5 as visitors on the Road to Omaha and actually reached the NCAA Finals. This Ole Miss team would be the first.

They’d also stretch their tournament streak to seven victories, becoming only the 6th SEC team to win its first seven tourney games since the new format began in 1999.

Of those six teams, the 2022 Rebels are the only team that didn’t host their own Regional AND Super Regional.

Hattiesburg Super Regional

Then came the sweep of Southern Miss in Hattiesburg that would send the Rebels back to Omaha.

OLEMAHA

Ole Miss arrived in Omaha having thrown 20 consecutive scoreless innings. Dylan DeLucia soon put up another six goose eggs in the opener against Auburn as the Rebs won, 5-1.

Then, in front of 25,246 fans, Ole Miss pitcher Hunter Elliott would take the mound for the biggest outing of his young career and put on another show, leading the Rebels to a 13-5 win over Arkansas and to a 2-0 mark in Omaha.

Of course, The Captain was there to put his mark on the game as he had done all season.

The Rebels wouldn’t trail again until the lone loss to Arkansas (2-3) in their 8th game. They went on to defeat the Hogs, 2-0, to win their side of the bracket, sending them to the best two-out-of-three vs. Oklahoma where the winner would be crowned National Champion.

Ole Miss defeated the Sooners, 10-3, in the first game and just needed one more win to take the title home to Oxford. The rest, as they say, is history. Ole Miss beat Oklahoma, 4-2, to win the Rebels first-ever national championship.

Here’s the final glorious out that has probably been etched into every Ole Miss fan’s heart and soul.

In this NCAA tournament, there was something for everyone.

Tim Elko had a 3-dinger game, the Rebs hit back-to-back-to-back jacks, threw back-to-back shutouts in Hattiesburg, Dylan DeLucia set an all-time record in College World Series play by starting a game by pitching 4.2 perfect innings, and Jack Dougherty followed that with a new all-time record of 5 perfect innings in the finals.

As any Rebel can now tell you, every game, every pitch, and every at-bat in the NCAA tournament were of equal importance. The first two games in Miami were just as dramatic and pressure-filled as the final two games were in Omaha, and every bit as crucial. 

Those games in Coral Gables were the impetus for Ole Miss reaching its first-ever finish line ahead of the rest of the pack, against all odds. And Rebel fans showed up in overwhelming numbers for every glorious moment.

64 no more. The Rebels became the only team to become National Champions after going unbeaten in a Regional and Super Regional that they didn’t host. 2008 Fresno State and 2016 Coastal Carolina also won championships without hosting, but neither were unscathed as Ole Miss was on literally THE ROAD to Omaha.

This team trailed after taking the lead only one time in its ten NCAA Tournament victories, and that was in the championship clincher against Oklahoma.

These unprecedented, unmatched 2022 Ole Miss Rebels proved to be Class and Clutch every step of the way.

To re-live the road to Omaha, click here.

Let’s savor the euphoria from 2022 as we prepare to watch the Rebs defend their title in 2023. Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for all your coverage from today’s baseball Media Day. Hotty Toddy!
David Walker

David is the consummate true-freshman quarterback, first pioneering the position only a year after college freshmen were given varsity eligibility by the NCAA in 1972. In 1973, the left-handed all-state gunslinger from Sulphur, Louisiana started for the Texas A&M Aggies and earned the All-Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year award as selected by the league’s coaches. David is the first college quarterback ever awarded Freshman of the Year in the NCAA. He was only 17, and still holds the NCAA record as the youngest starting quarterback in college football history. He wore No. 8 at A&M in honor of one of his football heroes, Archie Manning.

In becoming the winningest quarterback ever at A&M, David was converted from a dual-threat QB to a triple option trailblazer. The two-time team captain led three record-breaking offenses that changed the direction of football at A&M forever, establishing once and for all the winning tradition that the Aggies had so-long desired.

As a high school head coach in Houston in the late ‘80s, David stationed his quarterback in the shotgun formation, having him reading defenses and throwing hot routes at a time when such offensive schemes were frowned upon by traditional fans and coaches. One of his quarterbacks tossed 57 passes in a single game, which stood as the all-time Greater Houston Area record for many years. 

As you can tell from his bona fides, David is extremely qualified as our expert on all things Quarterback at Ole Miss. Enjoy his exclusive analysis only here at The Rebel Walk!

About The Author

David Walker

David is the consummate true-freshman quarterback, first pioneering the position only a year after college freshmen were given varsity eligibility by the NCAA in 1972. In 1973, the left-handed all-state gunslinger from Sulphur, Louisiana started for the Texas A&M Aggies and earned the All-Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year award as selected by the league’s coaches. David is the first college quarterback ever awarded Freshman of the Year in the NCAA. He was only 17, and still holds the NCAA record as the youngest starting quarterback in college football history. He wore No. 8 at A&M in honor of one of his football heroes, Archie Manning. In becoming the winningest quarterback ever at A&M, David was converted from a dual-threat QB to a triple option trailblazer. The two-time team captain led three record-breaking offenses that changed the direction of football at A&M forever, establishing once and for all the winning tradition that the Aggies had so-long desired. As a high school head coach in Houston in the late ‘80s, David stationed his quarterback in the shotgun formation, having him reading defenses and throwing hot routes at a time when such offensive schemes were frowned upon by traditional fans and coaches. One of his quarterbacks tossed 57 passes in a single game, which stood as the all-time Greater Houston Area record for many years.  As you can tell from his bona fides, David is extremely qualified as our expert on all things Quarterback at Ole Miss. Enjoy his exclusive analysis only here at The Rebel Walk!

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