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OMAHA | Ole Miss appeared to be running out of prosperity and into trouble during the eighth inning on Saturday.

Despite a two-run lead and a College World Series championship series record for most consecutive outs (15) to start a game for Jack Dougherty, Ole Miss was squandering a golden chance for insurance.

With two on and no outs, a poor bunt nabbed the lead runner and a double steal would be the second out at third base in a couple moments. Instant replayed showed an obvious out call to overturn the original decision.

It seemed like what had been a coasting opener and was an eventual 10-3 blowout win for Ole Miss was trending toward the Sooners. But following the replay reversal, one pitcher later, in fact, TJ McCants sent a Chazz Martinez breaking ball into the outfield seats.

“The first one was huge because we kind of screwed up an inning… and it looks like we're going to kind of just kind of wreck an inning that it looked like we were going to able to score,” Mike Bianco said.

“I thought that kind of knocked the wind out of their sails. It would for anybody, but I thought the big one was T.J. just because of the way the inning looked like it was going to end.”

It set off a back-to-back bomb fest — the first at the College World Series since LSU in 1998 — and a party for the approximately 20,000 Ole Miss fans that made up the overall attendance of 25,000 and change. When Calvin Harris and Justin Bench joined McCants in the spectacle, the outcome was basically decided.

Ole Miss is one game from the national title. Game two of the series is at 2 p.m. Sunday, as Rebel left-hander Hunter Elliott faces Oklahoma right-hander and former Ole Miss commit Cade Horton.

McCants entered the game hitting .190 against left-handed pitching, but the 1-1 breaking-ball blast gave Ole Miss a four-run cushion, and it ballooned to six runs after Harris hit a 430-foot home run — the second farthest in the CWS ever at Charles Schwab Field — and Bench completed the trifecta.

Josh Mallitz finished off the final two innings with 40 pitches.

While the eighth inning sent the incredibly-partisan crowd into a frenzy and set off what Bianco called a football-like atmosphere, the sixth inning was the critical juncture to hold the Sooners to just two runs.

Dougherty, who hadn’t had a start since the second week of SEC play only had a 1-2-3 inning once in any of his three previous starts, struck out six and pounded the strike zone for five perfect innings.

“Just go out there and get the first out, get the next out, put a zero on the board and give us a chance to score,” Bianco said. “He was even better than that today.”

Dougherty said: “Coach B grabbed me before the game and said, just be you. Go out, attack with your fastball, get ahead in counts, and just pitch like you pitch, and you'll be successful.”

In the sixth, Oklahoma got two sharp singles to start the frame and a bunt that went for a base hit that scored a run. Dougherty walked his final hitter to load the bases with no outs and hand the ball to freshman Mason Nichols.

Nichols struck out the first two batters including All-American Peyton Graham and after a walk that brought in a run, he coaxed the third out to strand three runners.

Bianco said he may have gone to Mallitz had he has him warm, but Nichols was the option prior to things spiraling a bit. However, he trusted the newcomer to limit the jam.

“Mason was the guy that was up at that time and hot and ready to go,” Bianco said. “Mallitz wasn't ready. Originally going from the sixth inning on, there's a lot of game left. There's 12 outs left. We knew Mason could give us an inning or two.”

Nichols also pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

Ole Miss built a lead on the back of Dougherty but also with its offense taking advantage of Oklahoma ace Jake Bennett.

In the first inning, Bennett got two outs on four pitches before Tim Elko singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. Kevin Graham brought him in with a single and later scored also.

Bench hit an RBI single with two outs in the third and Elko homered to start the fourth.

In all, Ole Miss had 16 hits on the night and ran Bennett in the seventh inning after seven hits, 10 strikeouts and no walks.

The Rebels were 7-for-19 with runners on base and 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Ole Miss had six two-out RBIs and have scored more than half their runs in the College World Series with two outs.

Ole Miss will wake up Sunday in search of the national title for the first time in school history. But instead of the calmness that some coaches preach in those moments, Bianco told his Rebels to harness the energy in a positive way.

"That was kind of the message today, is to go for it,” Bianco said. “You are here in the National Championship Series, and you deserve to be here, and it's time to press the gas pedal and go for it, to be aggressive.”