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OXFORD, Miss. | Few players under Mike Bianco have made a better first impression than Sikes Orvis.

With Ole Miss trailing Tennessee by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, Bianco called upon a true freshman, left-handed hitter to extend the game and subsequently the season.

With two outs and one man on base in the ninth, Orvis would send a Drew Streckenrider pitch over the wall in right field, tying the game at four runs apiece. Matt Snyder would win the game in the 11th with a walk-off home run clinching a berth in the 2012 postseason.

"Hitting that first home run was cool, especially in that big of a situation, to win a ballgame." Orvis said as he reflected upon his first career home run. "The whole year I was doing a lot of pinch hitting late in the game because I was behind an All-American in Matt Snyder. Coach B used to always tell me, 'If you want to be a fan favorite, people love the home run here, so if you do that people will love you.' I took that to heart."

Whether the result was coincidental or intentional, Orvis will finish his four-year career as one of the most popular players in Ole Miss history. If you need proof of that claim, head to the seats along the left-field foul line and watch the number of fans, both young and old, who are waiting to get his autograph and/or wanting a picture with him.

"I talk to everybody," Orvis reasoned about his popularity. "If you talk to me, I'll talk to you. I like to be funny and goofy. I never take myself too serious as you can see by the whole mustache thing. I like laughing at myself, and I think people like that and think I'm just a normal guy."

While Orvis has always had a following in Oxford during his first two seasons (thanks largely to the mustache he would grow each March), he saw his popularity reach new heights during the 2014 season.

"He's got a forty-foot poster on the stadium," Bianco said of Orvis' popularity and importance to the Rebels. "He has had a great final two years, by being the leader, being the face of the program, and I mean that in a very positive way. He's terrific."

Orvis hit a team-high 14 home runs in 2014 while posting a team-leading .540 slugging percentage. Combining the impressive offensive output with a defensive year in which he made only three errors, Orvis was named First Team All-SEC by the league's coaches.

Unlike some of the other, more-recent popular Rebels such as Stephen Head or Drew Pomeranz, Orvis did not have any pre-existing ties to Ole Miss.

Orvis came to Ole Miss from Orlando, Fla area and immediately felt a connection with the school and Oxford.

"Ever since I drove down Old Taylor (Road), driving over to the field, I knew this was it," Orvis said of his decision to come to Ole Miss. "I knew this where I wanted to go. I just fell in love with how close knit the community is. It's a true college town, and being from a pretty big city in Orlando, I just fell in love with that. Just the culture down here in Mississippi and in the South, it was awesome. The people are awesome."

Sikes Orvis has embraced Ole Miss while Ole Miss has returned the favor.

Former White House Press Secretary once commented that people are inevitably disappointed in former President Clinton because he cannot live up to his own first impression.

Living up to a first impression, especially when it is overly positive, is a difficult task. Sikes Orvis lives up to his.

He's not just known here in Oxford and Swayze Field," Bianco said. "He's known wherever he has gone. The national media knows who he is. Everybody likes Sikes, including my daughter. It has been a real pleasure."