Ole Miss utilized a steady
offensive attack and a stellar
outing by starting pitcher Brett
Bukvich Tuesday to win the
Governor’s Cup game, 8-1, for
the first time in three tries.
Bukvich (5-1) pitched six
innings, fanned a career-high
11 batters and gave up one run
on five Bulldog hits. Following
the game, Bukvich was unanimously
selected as the game’s
MVP.
“It was awesome, great,
unbelievable,” Bukvich said.
“Everything was working for
me. As a pitcher you have to go
out and compete to get ahead of
hitters and execute pitches, and
I felt like I did that. I did great
tonight.”
Bukvich said he was pleased
with his command of pitches.
“Everything was working,” he
said. “It was just one of those
nights. I could have thrown any
one of my four pitches through
a cup.”
MSU head coach John Cohen
said Bukvich kept his hitters off
balance all night.
“It takes real focus, and you
just have to be a mean, aggressive
son of a gun to figure out
the changeup and the breaking
ball, and we just weren’t,” he
said. “We just didn’t compete.
That’s our whole deal – if we
don’t compete every pitch, we
have no chance.”
Junior Bulldog starter Ricky
Bowen, who pitched a complete-
game, two-hit shutout last
season against the Rebels, eliminated
any thought of a repeat by
allowing a run in the bottom of
the first inning.
After surrendering back-to-back
walks to start the game, he
gave up an RBI single to first
baseman Matt Smith.
What might have been a big
inning for the Rebels was avoided
when, in a same-name double
play, shortstop Ryan Powers
threw to first baseman Connor
Powers to retire a sliding Logan
Power.
The Rebel lead wouldn’t last
long as the Bulldogs struck back
in the top of the second. Senior
catcher Scott DeLoach led off
the frame with a triple off the
wall in right field and scored a
batter later on an RBI groundout
by Jet Butler.
Bowen’s day was cut short in
the bottom of the inning when,
after hitting Rebel third baseman
Zach Miller, he gave up
UM’s second run of the game
on a Michael Hubbard double.
Cohen said Bowen’s outing
was another instance in a disappointing
season for Bowen,
who was projected to be the
Bulldogs’ ace this season.
“[Bowen] is just not who
he was in the fall. He’s trying
and battling, you know, but he
just can’t find it,” Cohen said.
“We’re at a loss to what’s going
on with Ricky Bowen, but he’s
a great kid and he’s trying real
hard.”
Bowen gave way to senior
Chad Crosswhite, who gave up
a sacrifice bunt and earned a
strikeout and a fly ball to end
the inning.
After shutting the Rebels
down in order in the third,
three straight singles in the
fourth by Miller, Hubbard and
Kevin Mort gave UM two more
runs and a 4-1 lead.
Bukvich held the Bulldogs
without a baserunner in the
third and fourth innings. The
Dawgs made some noise in the
top of the fifth when Ryan
Powers and Nick Hardy picked
up back-to-back singles to start
the inning, but Bukvich quickly
struck out freshman Brent
Brownlee and earned fly-ball
outs from Grant Hogue and
Cody Freeman.
Things turned south for the
Bulldogs in the bottom of the
fifth thanks in part to a little
Rebels’ luck. A check swing
by Power turned into a leadoff
double, and Power then scored
on a bouncer up the middle by
Snyder.
Ole Miss got two more runs
on RBI singles from Hubbard
and Mort, padding the Rebel
lead to the tune of 7-1.
In the sixth, Crosswhite gave
way to junior Drew Hollinghead,
who loaded the bases on a leadoff
single and back-to-back
walks before handing off to Lee
Swindle.
Swindle earned a pair of foulground
popouts and a lineout
to second base, but in between
he gave up a pinch-hit single to
David Phillips, which pushed
the Rebel’ lead to 8-1 and
capped the scoring.
Ole Miss replaced its entire
battery for the top of the seventh
with Bukvich giving way
to junior-right hander and singer/
guitarist Rory McKean while
Brett Basham replaced Phillips,
who pinch hit for Kyle Hinson.
Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco
was pleased with Bukvich’s performance.
“He was tremendous,” Bianco
said. “He’s certainly a guy we
think can do that. You’re really
proud of a fifth-year senior
to pitch in your backyard and
pitch against your state rivals
like that.”
Swindle left the game after
pitching a solid two innings,
giving up no runs on one hit
and striking out two. Freshman
David Hayes took the hill next,
allowing three well-hit fly balls,
but each one found a Bulldog
glove to land safely in, ending
the offensive day for the
Rebels.
Cohen said he was not
pleased with the way his team
competed.
“That’s embarrassing to me.
It’s embarrassing to our program,”
he said. “In the future,
I just don’t think that’s going to
happen a whole lot.”
State now looks to rebound
against Kentucky, a team with
similar stats to the Bulldogs’.
The Wildcats trail MSU by a
single game in the SEC at 4-11,
but Cohen was quick to dismiss
any thoughts of looking past
UK.
“You look at their pitching
numbers, and they pitch very,
very well,” he said. “It is as
talented a pitching staff, at least
in terms of starting pitching as
there is in this conference.”
Cohen pointed out UK’s
freshman class was ranked No.
4 in the nation by Baseball
America.
Cohen has an intimate understanding
of Kentucky’s team as
he spent the past five seasons
as head coach in Lexington. He
said that will provide some odd
but familiar emotions.
“It will be a strange sensation,
one that I’ve had several times.
When I went to Kentucky, I
had to face a team that I’d
recruited at Florida,” he said.
“That was a good recruiting
class, and I’d been in a lot of
those kids’ homes and forged
a bond with those kids. Once
the game starts, though, you
go into competition mode, and
you won’t see the people you’ve
spent the last five years with;
you’ll see the people you’re competing
against.”
Game one of the series begins
at 6:30 p.m. today, and games
Saturday and Sunday begin at 1
and 1:30 p.m., respectively.