Ole Miss falls to Mississippi State again in Governor’s Cup

Published 10:20 pm Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Ole Miss changed locations for its final regular-season meeting with No. 10 Mississippi State, but it was the same result.

The Rebels got within a run but ultimately fell 4-2 in the annual Governor’s Cup game Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Ole Miss went 0-4 against its in-state rival during the regular season after Mississippi State swept the teams’ series earlier this season in Oxford and lost out on a chance at a top-20 RPI win.

Will Golsan went 2-for-5 while catcher Cooper Johnson had just his second multi-hit game of the season with a double and a single, the latter plating Thomas Dillard in the sixth to cut into a 3-0 deficit.

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The Rebels (25-16) got closer on Tate Blackman’s RBI double two batters later but squandered nearly every other chance to push more runs across, going 4 of 21 with runners on and just 3 of 14 with runners in scoring position. MSU (29-14) extended its lead again with Ryan Gridley’s RBI single in the eighth off Brady Feigl.

Ole Miss got the go-ahead run to the plate in the home half of the eighth and the tying run to the plate in the ninth but couldn’t do much after chasing MSU starter Denver McQuary (1-1), who scattered five hits and worked around five walks in 5 1/3 innings for the win. The Bulldogs’ bullpen limited the Rebels to two hits the rest of the way.

Brent Rooker gave the Bulldogs their three-run lead in the fifth with his SEC-leading 17th home run. Rooker, who also leads the league in average and RBIs, finished 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored and has seven hits in 17 at-bats against Ole Miss this season — all of them going for extra bases.

They were the only runs allowed in six innings by freshman Greer Holston (2-3), who gave up six hits, struck out three and walked one.

Next up for Ole Miss is a series at No. 15 Arkansas starting Thursday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.