NATCHEZ — Locals who made the trip to support the Ole Miss Rebels against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns in the Super Regionals in Lafayette were anxious to put the O.M.A.H.A. phrase — Ole Miss At Home Again — to rest, and after a 42-year drought, Natchez natives celebrated Super Regional victories throughout Moore Field.

With a College World Series berth on the line, Drew David sat next to his father, Jerry, during the 5-2 Ole Miss victory in Game 2. Drew graduated from Ole Miss in 2010 with fellow Natchez native Matthew Hall, but he was sitting with the enemy in Game 2, as Jerry played on the Ragin’ Cajuns football team in the late 1970s

Drew said he and his father were equally nervous for their schools.

“We were a little cautious to smack talk each other, because we didn’t want to jinx any momentum our teams had going,” Drew said. “I told him when I found out our teams were meeting in the Super Regionals that we’d have a prank war. I didn’t do anything extravagant, but we had a few ribs here and there.”

Because of work, Drew said he was unable to attend Game 3, but he would be there in spirit with his good friend  Hall.

Hall, who roomed with Drew at Ole Miss from 2006 to 2010, said he attended the first two games and thought he might as well make the trip for Game 3.

“The games have been intense and the tailgates have been rowdy,” Hall said. “The people have been great. They’re real knowledgeable about the game and super friendly.”

While Kyle Ketchings and Jordan Vance can attest to the ULL fans’ hospitality, they certainly didn’t press their luck in Game 2, swallowed up by an ocean of surrounding UL-Lafayette fans.

Ketchings and Vance were sporting Rebel colors, as each graduated from Trinity Episcopal School and are currently enrolled in law school and pharmacy school at Ole Miss, respectively.

“We had to be pretty quiet towards the end of the game,” Ketchings said. “We would clap and give each other high fives. Well, we would give each other low fives.”

Vance laughed about the seating arrangement.

“We were trying to be as inconspicuous as we could,” he said.

Chip Sturdivant followed suit, doing everything he could not to rile up any fans on both sides. A proud Southern Miss fan, Sturdivant made the trip after a friend of his sent an invite.

Sturdivant, who is Drew’s uncle, said he had family members and friends on both sides, acknowledging his niece and ULL student, Sarah Sturdivant.

“I’m a Eagle through and through, but I was really just enjoying some quality baseball,” Sturdivant said. “I wore a red shirt with no affiliation to either school.”

With the Rebels’ advancement to Omaha, Ole Miss fans can thankfully put past punch lines behind them.

“I can finally say the O-word,” Ketchings said. “We’re sick of hearing we can’t make it to Omaha. You have to catch the breaks to get there, and we finally did.”