Ole Miss achieved a historic feat in an emphatic showing against Oklahoma to open the College World Series championship on Saturday.
Thanks to three consecutive home runs from sophomores TJ McCants and Calvin Harris, and senior Justin Bench in the eighth inning, Ole Miss became the first team since LSU in 1998 to hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the CWS finals.
The four-run eruption increased the Rebels’ 4–2 lead and propelled them to a decisive 10–3 victory over the Sooners to take a 1–0 series lead.
With two outs and junior Hayden Dunhurst on second base, McCants, an SEC All-Freshman team selection, stepped up and delivered a 372-foot two-run homer on the third pitch of his at-bat.
Harris followed McCant’s power shot with one of his own: a 430-foot home run over the right-center field wall two pitches into his plate appearance. The offensive surge concluded with Bench’s 394-footer to give Ole Miss a commanding six-run lead.
After entering the tournament as the last at-large team invited, the Rebels have set themselves up for a chance to make even more history entering Game 2 on Sunday.
Ole Miss, still searching for its first CWS title in its sixth appearance all-time, shockingly reached the finals as a ninth seed after beating Auburn last Saturday and Arkansas in three straight games.
