OXFORD – For the third time in five years, there was an Omaha celebration at Swayze Field that did not include the Ole Miss Rebels.

Fifth-ranked Virginia ran the 11th-ranked Rebels silly and advanced to the College World Series, the program’s first trip, with a 5-1 win before 10,110 fans in Sunday’s decisive Game 3 of the Oxford Super Regional.

The Rebels also lost home super regionals in 2005 and 2006 after winning Game 1, like they did here Friday with a walk-off home run from Matt Smith in the 12th inning. Ole Miss lost a super regional at Arizona State in two games in 2007 and lost in the championship game round of the four-team regional at Miami last year. Ole Miss was going for its first CWS appearance since 1972.

“Two teams battled it out for three straight days and left everything on the field, but at the end of the day you have to tip your hat to the University of Virginia,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “They played better than us. They did more to win the game.”

Most of that extra came on the basepaths where the Cavaliers – who led the ACC with 104 stolen bases – had six steals on Sunday and 12 for the weekend.

Numerous throws to first attempting to hold runners were to no avail and resulted in two of seven Ole Miss errors on the weekend.

“It was like every time I looked up they were gone,” first baseman Matt Smith said. “They did a good job on all our pitchers even though we tried to defend it.”

Sunday, Virginia runners took advantage of what they called a slow move home by Ole Miss starter Nathan Baker. More than once the Cavaliers had such a big jump that catcher Kyle Henson did not throw to second.

Bianco said catchers Henson and Brett Basham had a few opportunities to throw runners out over the course of the series, but Virginia’s steals were largely a product of its execution.

“It goes back to their aggressiveness. It’s something they do well. It’s not something that just happened,” he said.

The most painful of thefts came in the fourth inning. Baker had gotten the Rebels off to a good start on the mound and was working with a 1-0 lead when Phil Gosselin and Dan Grovatt were at first and second and executed a double steal. A sac fly by John Hicks drove in Gosselin to tie the game.

“We wanted to get two people in scoring position with just one out,” Gosselin said. “Luckily me and Grovatt were able to get in there. We thought we could get good jumps on their left-handed pitchers, and we took advantage of that.”

The game fell a part for Ole Miss in the fifth. With Baker still going in a 1-1 game, the Cavs got a leadoff single from Steven Proscia, who quickly stole second and scored the go-ahead run on a basehit by Franco Valdes.

With the catcher Valdes having not yet stolen, the Rebels had an opportunity for a double play, but shortstop Kevin Mort could not come up with a ground ball after a tough hop, and the error off the bat of John Barr put runners at the corners.

Baker apparently had Barr caught in a rundown after a pickoff throw to first, but Matt Smith, looking at Valdes at third, hesitated too long. Barr took second base, and frustration by the Rebels was evident in the body language.

More frustration was coming. The Cavs got a sac fly, a single to right and an error by right fielder David Phillips, and left the inning with a 4-1 lead.

“I wanted to get the double play. I saw the big hop, and I went after it,” Mort said. “That might have been the key play in the whole game.”

Likely more key was the depth of the Cavs pitching which allowed just seven earned runs in 30 super regional innings. Virginia finished with a 2.33 ERA for three games in Oxford and carries a 1.50 postseason ERA into the CWS.

“They have a great pitching staff. They’re very deep, and they did a very good job of mixing it up and throwing their off-speed stuff for strikes,” Ole Miss center fielder Jordan Henry said. “They did that all weekend and kept us off balance.”