PEARL — Mississippi State continued their recent dominance over Ole Miss and now has won nine in a row overall.
Behind a big first inning, the No. 10-ranked Bulldogs got past rival and the No. 17-ranked Rebels 7-3 in the 18th annual Governor’s Cup at Trustmark Park in Pearl on Tuesday night.
It’s Mississippi State’s fourth straight win over Ole Miss and the Bulldogs have now won nine out of the last 10 series.
“My third day on the job Dr. Keenum brought me into his office and brought up how important and he said there is nothing more important than the Governor’s Cup,” said Mississippi State head coach Brian O’Connor. “He was very clear about it and we’re excited to take that trophy home.”
State scored four runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-0 lead on back-to-back RBI singles by Jacob Parker and Bryce Chance and then Kevin Milewski followed with a two-run double to shallow right field.
Parker added an RBI single to left field in the second to extend the Bulldog lead to 5-0.
Ole Miss got on the board with three runs in the sixth on a two-run double by Collin Reuter and an RBI single by Dom Decker to cut the Mississippi State lead to 5-3.
The Bulldogs responded with a run in the sixth as Milewski scored on a sacrifice fly by Ace Reese to extend the lead to 6-3.
State added a run in the eighth to stretch their lead to 7-3 as Aiden Teel scored on an RBI safety-squeeze bunt single by Drew Wyers.
Milewski had three hits to lead the Bulldog offense and was named the game’s most valuable player. It was his first three-hit game as a Mississippi State player.
“Tonight was a great example of unselfish team baseball. We had great two-strike approach and a bunch of base hits with two strikes,” O’Connor said. “The ball wasn’t going anywhere tonight in this ballpark, so it was going to be the team who put the ball in play the most and move the ball around. Just really proud of how we came down here and played after an emotional series.”
Parker had two hits and two RBI.
“It was fun. Obviously against your rivals, so we wanted to go out there and win and we competed well,” Parker said. “We did a great job tonight playing free. Jumped out ahead early and the pitching staff closed the door.”
Ole Miss left the bases loaded in the fifth and sixth innings while they cut into the lead, but strikeouts ended the threat in both innings.
Dom Decker had two hits to lead the Rebels offensively.
Both teams continue SEC play this weekend as Mississippi State (35-10, 13-8 SEC) travels to Texas, while Ole Miss (31-15, 11-10) travels to Arkansas.
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