Mississippi State wins fourth straight Governor's Cup, defeats Ole Miss 8-1 in Pearl

PEARL — The Governor's Cup will stay in Starkville for 2019.

Mississippi State defeated Ole Miss in its annual non-conference Governor's Cup contest, with the Bulldogs defeating the Rebels 8-1. The win was Mississippi State's fourth straight in the series and the Bulldogs have won eight of the 12 games in the series since it officially became the Governor's Cup. With the win, Mississippi State improves to 33-9 on the season while Ole Miss drops to 27-15. 

"I thought it was awesome," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said on the win. "First time for me to play in this park. Big crowd, nice park. The people here have been great. Our kids, they were ready to play. I give them a lot of credit. They know this is a big game for everybody, so it was exciting and fun." 

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After a few slow innings to start the game, the Bulldogs offense converted for three runs in the top of the sixth inning thanks to two hits and an error, breaking a 1-1 tie. Second baseman Justin Foscue provided the big hit, a bases-loaded double down the right field line past Ole Miss outfielder Chase Cockrell to score two runs. The double was Foscue's 12th of the season and gave him the Mississippi State team lead in RBI for the season with 44. 

Mississippi State tacked on its third run in the sixth off a sacrifice fly. Two of the three runs in the inning were earned. The first two runs were charged to starting pitcher Zack Phillips and the third belonged to relief pitcher Max Cioffi.

Cioffi gave way to Ole Miss' relief ace Austin Miller, but Mississippi State chased Miller in the seventh inning, tagging the right-hander for three runs on three hits in the frame. First baseman Tanner Allen provided the big hit, a single up the middle that scored two runs thanks partially to a throwing error by Ole Miss catcher Cooper Johnson.

"It's disappointing," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "We haven't played well for a couple of weeks. Collectively. There's times in games in a certain game. But consistently and collectively we haven't played very well. The last two times on the field where the pressure got hot, we didn't handle it. That's not what you're supposed to do when you're a veteran club. So it's been disappointing."

Prior to the sixth inning, Ole Miss pitching had been the story of the game. Phillips opened the game with four no-hit innings before Bulldogs left fielder Rowdey Jordan broke the shutout with a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning. Mississippi State starter Peyton Plumlee pitched effectively as well, allowing one run on three hits in four innings with three strikeouts and one walk. 

"It was a really good outing," Phillips said. "I should've not hit someone, walked someone. Just make a different pitch here and there. But overall it was a good outing. Everything's been sharp."

After Plumlee, the Mississippi State bullpen combined to throw five shutout innings. Relievers Keegan James, Trysten Barlow, Colby White and Jared Liebelt allowed four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. 

The Rebels scored their one run in the third inning off an RBI double from shortstop Grae Kessinger. The hit marked Kessinger's 30th straight game getting on base, the longest on-base streak for an Ole Miss player since Tanner Mathis got on base 41 games in a row for the Rebels in 2011.

Ole Miss returns to action on Thursday for the first game of a three-game series at Swayze Field against Texas A&M. Mississippi State heads home this weekend for a three-game SEC series against Georgia beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.