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Top Ten Teams Battle in Pearl for Annual Governor’s Cup
Tate Blackman
Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics
@olemisspix
This evening, two Top 10 rivals will meet on the diamond in Pearl, Mississippi to battle for the Governor’s Cup. Ole Miss and Mississippi State will step out of conference play to face each other in this annual statewide bragging-rights game. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. and can be seen on SEC Network.
No. 9 Ole Miss walks into Trustmark Park with a 31-10 record. Over the weekend the Rebels swept Auburn in a three-game series. In game three, Ole Miss scored six unanswered runs to win the game as Colby Bortles and Ryan Olenek hit bombs.
The Rebels catcher Henri Lartigue hit the game winning single Sunday against the Tigers. Lartigue leads all SEC catchers with a .362 batting average.
Let’s take a closer look at the Bulldogs.
No. 3 Mississippi State enters the rivalry game with an 27-13-1 record after taking two-of-three from LSU over the weekend. The Bulldogs are currently tied with the Rebels at 10-8 in SEC play. As a team, MSU is hitting .308 led by Jake Mangum’s .422 batting average. Along with his .372 average, Jacob Robson has shown his speed throughout the season with team highs in steals (12) and triples (3). Reid Humphreys leads the team with 15 doubles and has four home runs to his credit. Humphreys has seen action out of the bullpen as the team’s closer, making 12 appearances, posting a 5.94 ERA and collecting five saves. MSU will give the ball to freshman Ryan Cyr in the Governor’s Cup.
It will be Cyr’s first career start; the right hander has not allowed a run in nine relief appearances (12.0 innings) this season. The Mississippi State pitching staff holds a 3.84 ERA as a team. John Cohen is in his eighth season leading the program.
Mississippi State’s coach John Cohen will call on the arm of freshman Ryan Cyr to face the Rebels. Coach Mike Bianco is going to give the ball to junior Chad Smith.
This is the 37th meeting in the neutral site rivalry series known as the Governor’s Cup, formerly the Mayor’s Trophy game; each team has won 18 games in the series. Last season, Ole Miss defeated Mississippi State by the score of 11-1.
Fans can see every pitch of tonight’s Governor’s Cup on SEC Network or listen to the call on the Ole Miss Radio Network.
Adam Brown is the sports editor for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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