Rebs Dominate Dog$

PEARL, Miss. -- Senior left-hander Brett Bukvich struck out a career-high 11 batters and did not walk one on the way to Most Valuable Player honors has he helped lead No. 16 Ole Miss (26-10) to an 8-1 win over Mississippi State (19-18) and helped the Rebels claim the Governor’s Cup.
A crowd of 7,458 - the fifth largest in Trustmark Park history - watched Bukvich (5-1) work 6.0 innings and allow only one run on five hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts as the Rebels claimed the annual non-conference contest between Southeastern Conference foes.
Ricky Bowen (2-2) suffered the loss for the Bulldogs as he allowed two runs on two hits with two walks and no strikeouts in 1.0 inning of work. Mississippi State would use five pitchers on the night.
“I thought Bukvich did a terrific job tonight,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “He really only got into trouble one or two times and did a tremendous job. He is a senior from this area who can understand and appreciate this game. It was nice to see him perform so well in a last hurrah so to speak.”
Ole Miss got on the board first when Jordan Henry scored in the first on a single up the middle from Matt Smith. Henry walked to open the game and moved to second on a walk of Logan Power before scoring on the Smith hit two batters later.
Mississippi State tied things in the top of the second as Scott DeLoach scored on a groundout to short from Jet Butler. DeLoach tripled off the wall to open the inning and scored on the Butler groundout in the next at bat.
The Bulldogs would get no closer as Ole Miss would hold Mississippi State off the board the rest of the way.
Zach Miller broke he 1-1 tie in the second when he scored from first on a double down the left field line from Michael Hubbard. Miller was hit by a pitch to reach base to open the inning.
Ole Miss would add two runs in the fourth inning on a two-RBI double from Kevin Mort that scored both Miller and Hubbard who had reached on singles prior to the Mort hit. The runs pushed the Rebels out to a 4-1 lead.
Three more runs crossed the plate for the Rebels in the fifth. Logan Power opened things with a double and scored on a single from Matt Snyder. Two outs later, Miller was again hit by a pitch to reach safely and back-to-back singles from Hubbard and Mort scored Snyder and Miller to give the Rebels a 7-1 lead.
Ole Miss added its final run of the game in the sixth when Henry scored on a bases loaded single from pinch-hitter David Phillips to give the Rebels the final margin of 8-1.
Ole Miss will return to action this weekend with a three-game series at No. 20 Florida this weekend. First pitch of Friday’s contest is set for 5:30 p.m. CDT.