OXFORD | The clock struck midnight right around the final out, 364 days since the mass of moving-on pandemonium involved the team from the other dugout, and the Ole Miss hugs were of despair and comfort instead of celebration.

But instead of Black Monday, this was a slow burn of a coronation. Ole Miss was going to win its first regional since 2014. The final score and the particulars were undecided, but as soon as Thomas Dillard hit the fourth-inning grand slam to push the margin to 10 runs with his second home run of the day, the party started in Oxford.

The Rebels (40-25) easily dispatched of four-seed Jacksonville State, 19-4, on Sunday and outscored the three opponents a combined 41-7 during the weekend. Ole Miss now sees a familiar foe in Arkansas with a College World Series berth for grabs.

The Rebels and Razorbacks meet in Fayetteville on either Friday or Saturday for the three-game super regional set. Ole Miss is 3-2 against Arkansas this season and the only team since mid-April 2017 to win a series in Fayetteville. Ole Miss has done it twice. The Rebels have won four straight series against Arkansas.

A half hour after Tennessee Tech dogpiled on the Swayze Field infield last year, Mike Bianco called it the worst day of his baseball life. Sitting in the same seat a year later, he gave reflections on his team that just finished victory lap around the inside of Oxford-University Stadium and swarmed right field to meet the students for festivities.

“We’re all proud,” Bianco said. “To me I’m happy and everyone deserves it, including the new guys, but the guys who were here last year deserve the day. They get to finish at Swayze the right way.”

Dillard hit the game's first pitch for a home run, and he finished with seven RBIs. He has three home runs since switching to no batting gloves on Friday. The junior’s nine RBIs on the weekend are a regional school record.

Jacksonville State beat Clemson, 9-2, earlier in the day, but the heat and the lack of pitching depth compounded on the Ohio Valley Conference champions who won their first two regional games in school history.

The Rebels had 20 hits, six of which went for extra bases including three home runs. Anthony Servideo added his second long ball of the weekend once the game was a rout. Ole Miss scored at least five runs in three separate innings.

The 41 runs scored are the most by Ole Miss in a regional, and the Rebels have won 40 or more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2007.

“I’m proud of this team and how we played this weekend,” Dillard said. “I remember sitting at this table last year at the same spot and not a good feeling. Really dark feeling. It’s a great feeling that we have another series.”

Gunnar Hoglund held the Gamecocks to two runs — one earned — in 5.1 innings. He struck out five without a walk for the win. Houston Roth, Connor Green and Max Cioffi all threw in relief.

Bianco said the Rebels will take Monday off and then plan logistics depending on the schedule in Fayetteville. For the group that had lost six straight going into the final day of the regular season, it has a chance against a known opponent to become one of the best teams in school history.

Ole Miss is 2-3 all-time in road super regionals, losing two straight at Arizona State in 2007 and beating ULL in three games in 2014. Ole Miss has won six of the nine home regionals in its history.

“It’s a moment I’ll never forget,” Cooper Johnson said. “We feel like we’re going to win every game right now.”