OXFORD | Sha Alderman had the world go silent from her seat in Section C at Swayze Field on Saturday.

For a few seconds, amid the pandemonium and the bedlam her son, Kemp Alderman, created, she didn’t focus on or take part in the ruckus. There was a quiet moment — in her mind at least — and a spontaneous reflection of the work put in, the outcome that came from those hours and the perseverance and the visual of her son, uncharacteristically overcome with emotion, running the bases and celebrating below her.

“I could tell (the ball) went out,” Sha Alderman said. “I just stopped and watched him. I didn’t cheer or holler. I just wanted to watch him.

“He doesn’t show emotion. For him to round bases here and his dream to go to Ole Miss and the beer shower, that trip around the bases was what he worked for.”

Alderman, typically a reserved and stoic presence, poured out his elation as soon as he connected on his swing. He’d given himself an impromptu pep talk while in right field a half inning earlier. The Rebels (28-12, 10-8), in their previous at-bat, had erased an eight-run deficit, all with two outs and tied LSU 9-9 in hopes of salvaging what had been a pretty brutal weekend.

Alderman was due up first in the bottom of the ninth after he’d entered with the Rebels trailing by eight and flew out in his first at-bat. Ole Miss needed to reset its season, and Alderman had still been expected to redshirt during his first year year on campus, as late as four days prior.

“I said 'this is what you’ve been dreaming of so go up there and don’t try to do too much,'” Alderman remembered from his thoughts minutes before the home run that walked-off the Tigers. “'Just see what happens,' and it paid off.”

It was a first-pitch fastball, and Alderman sent it well out of right field, an opposite-field shot with an 110-MPH exit velocity. He didn’t see where it landed. He just knew it wasn’t being caught by anything other than a Solo cup.

Alderman turned toward the Ole Miss dugout halfway to first base and beat his chest and screamed. He halfway sprinted around the bases and met the mob at home plate. His jersey was lost somewhere along the way. Sha Alderman was happy to find out later teammates unintentionally ripped it off; her son didn’t strip.

And after all the commotion calmed down and Alderman finally got to his parents, and they hugged, Sha and Kemp’s father, Kelly, told him they were proud of him. With kids waiting outside the stadium for his autograph, the exchange was brief.

“Put the time in and see what can happen,” Sha said.

Alderman was always expected to hit a lot of home runs in Oxford. Prior to this year, the question was more if he’d get to Oxford at all.

The No. 47 high school prospect in the country, per Perfect Game, Alderman wowed scouts and attracted attention for his mid 90s fastball on the mound and easy, overwhelming power at the plate.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pounder from Decatur, Mississippi, was described as “country strong” in one scouting report, and early expectations were about where he’d play, and not if he’d play. The sheer measurables suggested Alderman’s bat upside would force his way into the lineup early with the Rebels.

And when he’s made contact, it’s easy to see that assertion.

“We’d seen in the fall he has freakish power, not even arguably, we’ve never had a someone in the program hit the ball has hard and as hard consistently day-in and day-out with BP or intrasquad games with that exit velocity,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “It’s amazing. But he had a rough fall like a lot of freshman.”

Alderman struck out in nearly 60 percent of his intrasquad at-bats. The extra base hits and outrageous exit velocities were sprinkled in, but he needed to improve his contact rate.

For better or worse, when newcomers first arrive on campus, unless there’s a gross fundamental flaw, Ole Miss lets its players get comfortable during the first part of fall practice without considerable changes to their mechanics. The transition is a difficult one without the added stress of repetitions that feel uncomfortable.

Then, once a baseline is set, it’s time to get to the fine-tuning, the adjusting. In Alderman’s case, it was about finding a workable solution to a major issue — one that hadn’t surfaced to this extent against lower-level pitching but was problematic in the Southeastern Conference.

And it was going to take some time. Habits and comfort aren’t broken or built in short order.

“When we got to the spring time we realized he wasn’t going to get on the field and get a lot of opportunities and he’s working with (hitting coach Mike Clement) they noticed a hitch in his hands which made him a little late and caught in between and behind the fastball and early for the breaking ball,” Bianco said.

The decision to redshirt Alderman wasn’t a light one, but the Rebels believed it gave him the best chance to improve the fastest. Baseball players, especially with his talent level, don’t typically stay in a program for five years for the redshirt to matter, but there was a development angle to it.

Instead of quick fixes and trying to find an at-bat here or there, Alderman could focus on nothing but fixing the hitch and getting comfortable with the new set up.

“When I got redshirted, it put a fire under me to work harder,” Alderman said. “I’ve been doing everything with the team and working on my swing. My dad told me to be ready if the time comes this year or next year if that’s when it is. I kept working.”

The fix for the hitch is to get his hands back at set up and straighten his front arm, taking movement from his swing. It wouldn’t be a universal option, but Alderman’s strength makes it possible.

The next step is to add a little movement and rhythm back into his pre-swing and swing, but the small adjustment has made a considerable difference.

“It’s unorthodox, but it really works for him,” Bianco said. “He’s been lights out (in batting practice and practice).”

Redshirts and active pitchers and position players who don’t see enough game action play simulated games each week at practice, giving live repetitions to the entire roster between actual games and these developmental days.

Alderman first started seeing progress in those at-bats, striking out less and still seeing the ball jump off the bat.

RELATED: Tim Elko could be back this season for Rebs

It wasn’t until team captain Tim Elko tore his ACL that Alderman’s current availability became a burning topic.

The Rebels needed another power bat option, and that was where Alderman could possibly fit. But he had to be ready. Risking his confidence and not getting needed production while burning a year of eligibility had to be considered.

“He was just dominating these simulated games,” Clement said.

Alderman traveled with the team and was on the active roster for several weeks because of a catcher shortage. Cael Baker missed time with a broken hamate bone, and Calvin Harris continues to recover from a UCL reconstruction.

But activated didn’t mean likely to play until just more than a week ago.

Ole Miss put Alderman in the starting lineup against Little Rock. He struck out three times but also laced a single with a 111-MPH exit velocity. A throwaway line in the box score of an 11-6 Ole Miss win but an important moment for Alderman to relax.

“He told me he was so nervous and didn’t expect to be that nervous,” Sha Alderman said.

Alderman didn’t play Thursday or Friday in Ole Miss losses to LSU, and in a way, Saturday started with a bit of foreshadowing.

He had a bit of an epic batting practice round, blasting balls out of Swayze Field, and at one point LSU coach Paul Mainieri acknowledged the show and gestured in his direction.

A few hours later, Mainieri was comfortable with an eight-run lead and Alderman entered the game for what was expected to be a mop-up at-bat or two in place of Hayden Leatherwood, who had been hobbled because of an outfield collision with TJ McCants earlier in the series.

“We were down 9-1 and it was a chance for him to get a couple at-bats,” Bianco said. “That’s how he got into the game. Little did we know he’d be batting in the bottom of the ninth with the score tied.”

Mainieri wasn't even in the dugout, having been ejected for arguing balls and strikes following the McCants home run to tie the game.

Sha Alderman noticed as the bottom of the eighth ended that her son would be up first the next inning.

“I told my friends at least he will be the first out of the ninth inning and not the third out of the ninth inning,” Sha Alderman said. “You never want to see that as a spot you want your child in if it goes poorly. He’s a swinger. I was just praying to let him stay calm.”

Her comment wasn’t about a lack of confidence. It was the parental instinct to protect.

Those same friends, other Ole Miss parents, grabbed her and celebrated as Alderman completed his home run trot and she snapped out of focusing on only her son in that moment.

Bianco didn’t see the home run land, but he saw Alderman celebrate toward the dugout, and the two of them shared an embrace as the celebration neared its end. A special few seconds for a relationship that’s more than a half decade in the making.

“I’ve known Kemp for a really long time, since he was 12 years old and he played travel ball with my son, Sam,” Bianco said. “I’ve known Kemp and known his family.

“I know him better than I’ve known any recruit in the history of the program. Special moment to watch a kid you’ve seen since he was 12 years old playing at his dream school with a moment like that, that’s really cool.”

Later on Saturday night, Bianco’s wife, Camie, sent Sha Alderman a text, congratulating them on the moment.

“She’s a parent and can relate to it,” Sha said. “They know what you’re going through. We all just want our kids to be successful, to be OK.

“You never ask for it to be easy. You want the hard work rewarded. And, wow, to have a moment you won’t ever forget.”