OXFORD – Ole Miss head baseball coach Mike Bianco walked slowly toward a smattering of fans on the hill beyond left field at Oxford University Stadium. The fans had stayed around an extra hour not only to chant one last off-key rendition of Hotty Toddy, but to thank the coach who took the Rebels to heights unseen in more than 30 years.

Ole Miss lost the deciding third game of the best-of-three Super Regionals to the University of Texas Longhorns 6-4 on Monday night. The victory sends Texas to its national record 32nd College World Series, and the loss ends the Rebels’ season with a school record of 48 wins.

“It’s not the best feeling in the world by any means,” said Ole Miss junior Brian Pettway of Vicksburg. “A couple days, this will wear off and you have to get back to rolling. That’s all you can do.”

Pettway led an Ole Miss resurgence in the last three years that transformed the team from pretenders to contenders in not only the ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference, but also on a national stage.

In three seasons since Pettway arrived in Oxford as a highly touted freshman from Warren Central, the team has won 122 games – not bad for a school with a less-than-stellar baseball record.

“I think it’s bad that someone had to lose this game,” Texas head coach Augie Garrido said. He and the Longhorns will be in Omaha with seven other Super Regional winners for the double-elimination series starting Friday.

“Both of these teams played at a very high level,” Garrido said, “and the quality of baseball played on this diamond the last three days was as good as it gets. I’m just sorry there had to be a loser.”

Ole Miss won the first game on Sunday, 6-4, and could have clinched the regional with a win later Sunday. But Texas won the second game 3-1 to force Monday’s deciding game.

With Texas leading by two runs in the top of the ninth, the Rebels put two runners on base for Raymond native Stephen Head. The junior, who came in the same year as Pettway, has been one of the most lethal players on the team, but he struck out against Texas relief pitcher J. Brent Cox to end the game.

“There is nothing I can point to that we did wrong,” said Vicksburg High graduate and Ole Miss freshman Justin Henry, who broke onto the scene midway through the season. He hit in the leadoff position all through the regionals. “We hit the ball really well tonight, but they just got a few more hits than we did,” Henry said.

A crowd of 8,336 witnessed the Monday night game, bringing the three-day attendance to 26,074. That broke the previous mark of 23,831 set last season.

Oxford University Stadium has a listed capacity of 3,500.

“The road to Omaha is not easy, especially the first time,” said Bianco, who just completed his fifth season in Oxford. “We knew we had to beat someone to get there anyway.”