The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Face Bulldogs for Governor's Cup Tuesday
4/27/2015 | Baseball
GOVERNOR'S CUP
Matchup: Ole Miss (23-22) vs. Mississippi State (23-21)
Date: April 28, 2015
Location: Pearl, Miss.
Venue: Trustmark Park
Capacity: 8,480
Television: None
Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
David Kellum, play-by-play
Keith Kessinger, analyst
Live Audio: OleMissSports.com
Governor's Cup/Mayor's Trophy Series:
Mississippi State leads 18-17
Last Meeting: April 22, 2014
Mississippi State won 8-3
Pearl, Miss.
QUICK HITS
- Ole Miss will begin the week by facing rival Mississippi State for the Governor's Cup
- The Rebels are currently 34th in RPI with the nation's third-toughest schedule
- Ole Miss went 3-2 over its five-game homestand last week
- The Rebels recorded 68 hits during the five-game week, tallying double digits in four of the five contests
- With the impressive offensive production, Ole Miss improved its team season batting average by 15 points
- The Rebels hit five home runs while winning the weekend series against Alabama
- Junior Connor Cloyd has recorded six straight multi-hit games
- Three Rebels hit at or above .500 last week: Connor Cloyd (13-for-23, .565), Colby Bortles (9-for-18, .500) and Austin Knight (8-for-16, .500)
- Senior Austin Knight hit his first two career home runs over the weekend in consecutive at-bats
- Junior Cameron Dishon leads the SEC with eight sacrifice bunts
- The Rebels' best inning this season has been the second as they have outscored opponents 37-24
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
TUESDAY, 6:30 P.M.
Mississippi State - R-Sr., LHP, Ross Mitchell, 3-2, 4.30 ERA
Ole Miss - TBA
A LOOK AT MSU
The Bulldogs enter the Governor's Cup battle with a 23-21 record, including a 7-14 mark in SEC play. The rivalry matchup will be the first midweek game for Mississippi State since April 7. Since that point, MSU has dropped weekend SEC series to Texas A&M, Florida and Arkansas. Redshirt-sophomore Jacob Robson paces the team with a .353 average at the plate to go along with a team-high 17 stolen bases. In his final year as a Bulldog, redshirt-senior Wes Rea has shown his power with 30 RBI, nine doubles, four home runs and a .522 slugging percentage. On the mound, Mississippi State will start redshirt-senior Ross Mitchell, making his first start of the year. Mitchell has made 18 relief appearances in 2015, posting a 3-2 record with a 4.30 ERA. He has 14 strikeouts and 11 walks in 44.0 innings out of the bullpen.
MAYOR'S TROPHY/GOVERNOR'S CUP HISTORY
The Rebels and Bulldogs will square off for the Governor's Cup for just the ninth time. Prior to the Governor's Cup, the two rivals competed annually for the Mayor's Trophy in which Ole Miss won 14 times compared to 13 for Mississippi State. MSU claimed the first two meetings in the new rivalry contest before the Rebels won back-to-back games in 2009 and 2010. The two teams split the 2011 and 2012 contests, but the Bulldogs have taken the last two battles. Throughout the history of the annual midweek rivalry game, the two in-state foes have alternated being the home team at the neutral site venue. This season, Ole Miss will serve as the home team at Trustmark Park.
GOOD KNIGHT
Senior Austin Knight has waited his turn to be the Ole Miss starting catcher, spending time backing up All-Americans Stuart Turner and Will Allen. In his final season as a Rebel, Knight has been on a tear in the second half of the 2015 campaign. The Hattiesburg, Miss. native is hitting .348 during the month of April and has recorded a pair of three-hit games over the past week. Also, in his first 183 at-bats, Knight did not hit a home run. However, that all changed on his 184th at-bat as he sent a ball over the left field fence and into the Ole Miss bullpen, giving the Rebels an eighth-inning insurance run in a 4-0 victory versus Alabama. The next day, Knight proved that his homer was not a fluke, leaving the yard on an opposite field home run in his first plate appearance of the game.
CLOYD LEADING OFF
Junior Connor Cloyd has provided Ole Miss the production it needs from the leadoff spot as of late. Leading off as either the team's left fielder or designated hitter depending on the day, Cloyd has seen his average rocket to .423, including a .565 mark over the past week. The Tacoma, Wash. native has recorded at least two hits in each of the last six games, going 15-for-25 (.600). Against Central Arkansas, Cloyd tallied four hits, three runs and three RBI, all career highs. He followed that offensive performance with a three-hit game versus Memphis. Over the weekend, Cloyd smacked a pair of hits in all three games against Alabama to help Ole Miss claim the conference series.
1-2 PUNCH
Junior Christian Trent and redshirt-sophomore Brady Bramlett provided the 1-2 punch that the Rebels needed in the weekend rotation, leading Ole Miss to a doubleheader sweep over Alabama. Trent worked a season-long 8.0 innings, giving up two runs -- one earned -- and scattering six hits with a walk and five strikeouts. The win gave Trent his team-leading sixth of the season. Bramlett followed his teammate's impressive start with a gem of his own. He went a career-long 7.1 innings, shutting out Alabama and limiting the Crimson Tide to just four hits. Bramlett also struck out nine batters with no walks, and he was one strikeout shy of recording his third double-digit strikeout game of the season. He faced the minimum in the second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings and stranded a runner at second in the fourth on his way to securing the series for the Rebels.
SHOWERS OF POWER
In the winning series over Alabama, Ole Miss hit five home runs to spark plenty of famous Swayze showers out in right field. The Rebels' three-leading home run hitters all cleared the fence over the weekend. Colby Bortles hit a three-run shot as part of a five-RBI game in the series opener, a 10-2 win over the Crimson Tide. In the nightcap, Sikes Orvis and Austin Knight each homered in the eighth inning to provide the Rebels some breathing room on their way to a 4-0 victory and sweep of the doubleheader. In the weekend finale, Knight homered for the second time in as many at-bats, while J.B. Woodman blasted his sixth home run of the season. On the season, there have been 24 home runs hit between the four Rebels that left the yard over the past weekend. Orvis leads the way with nine, while Bortles has seven and Woodman has six. Knight's two home runs were the first two of his Ole Miss career.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
Ole Miss collected a combined 68 hits in its five games last week, recording at least 10 in four of those contests. The Rebels hit .368 as a team to increase their season average by 15 points. Ole Miss averaged 8.2 runs per game and blasted six home runs throughout the week. To kick off the five-game homestand, the Rebels scored 14 runs in the first two innings in a convincing 18-4 victory over Central Arkansas. The 18 runs were a season high for the Rebels. Each Rebel in the everyday starting lineup had at least one multi-hit game during the week; junior leadoff hitter Connor Cloyd led the way with multiple hits in all five games.
APRIL SLUGGERS
Colby Bortles, Connor Cloyd and Austin Knight have had success at the plate throughout the month of April. Thus far, Cloyd has hit at an impressive .456 clip, recording all 10 multi-hit games in his Ole Miss career during this month. With his production at the dish, the Maple Valley, Wash. native has secured his spot in the everyday lineup. Cloyd is hitting .423 this season and has recorded multi-hit games in six straight contests; last week, he was 13-for-23 (.565) at the plate with six runs and six RBI. Meanwhile, Bortles has added the power in the Ole Miss order during April, hitting .344 with six doubles, four home runs and 24 RBI. Two of Bortles' home runs have been grand slams in wins over No. 1 Vanderbilt and UT Martin. The Ole Miss third baseman has recorded hits in 13-of-16 games this month, helping increase his season batting average to .297. The 24 RBI during the month has also propelled Bortles to the team lead with 39 through 45 games. Knight has also hit over .300 during April, increasing his average this month to .348 after batting .500 last week. Knight went 8-for-16 over five games, recording the first two home runs of his career.
SOPHOMORE MAINSTAYS
Only two Rebels have started all 45 games this season, and they both happen to be sophomores. Errol Robinson has started every game as the Rebels' shortstop, while J.B. Woodman has been penciled in the Ole Miss outfield, splitting time between center field and right field. Robinson and Woodman have made phenomenal plays with their gloves, but the duo also produces at the plate. Woodman has 46 hits to lead the Rebels, and Robinson is second with 45; Woodman has scored a team-high 33 times, while Robinson's 24 runs are third on the Ole Miss ballclub. In the 7-2 win over Auburn, Woodman and Robinson led Ole Miss at the plate as each Rebel recorded three hits in the contest. Woodman nearly left the yard in the first with a triple off the green monster in left field, later scoring for the game's first run. One inning later, Robinson belted a ground-rule double to set up a two-RBI opportunity that gave Ole Miss an early three-run advantage.
LET'S PLAY TWO
Although having just one doubleheader scheduled prior to the start of the 2015 campaign, Ole Miss has played in seven other twinbills this year. Following a sweep over Alabama on Saturday, the eighth doubleheader of the season, the Rebels are 9-7 on doubleheader days. Playing so many doubleheaders is not familiar territory for the Rebels; the last time Ole Miss played eight doubleheaders in one full season occurred in 1993 when the Rebels played eight twinbills throughout the year due to them being regularly scheduled by the SEC. Once the conference stopped scheduling doubleheaders, the most Ole Miss had played up until this year was four in each of the following seasons: 2008, 2006, and 1996.
SHORT'S STUFF
Sophomore southpaw Wyatt Short has been a shutdown reliever out of the Ole Miss bullpen this season. In 16 appearances, Short has a 3-1 record, six saves, an impressive 1.82 ERA, 32 strikeouts, only 11 walks and just six earned runs over 29.2 innings. His win total and number of saves are team highs out of Rebel relievers as he had held opposing hitters to a .236 average at the plate. Against Tennessee, the Southaven, Miss. native entered the game with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, but he pitched out of the jam, allowing just one of the inherited runners to score. He also pitched the final 2.2 innings to earn the save in game one of a doubleheader at Auburn. At one point this season, Short surrendered just one run over 21.2 innings spanning 12 appearances.
WEATHERING THE STORM
One of two captains, senior Scott Weathersby has been a leader to a youthful Ole Miss baseball team. On the mound this season, Weathersby has posted a 2.16 ERA in 13 appearances. Through 33.1 innings of work, he has struck out 40 batters, while only walking seven. Perhaps the most impressive statistic of all by the Hattiesburg, Miss. native is that he is holding opposing hitters to just a .158 average at the plate. Weathersby's veteran presence on the mound showed against No. 1 Vanderbilt, April 10, as he retired 18 of the 21 batters he faced over a career-long six-inning outing. The senior right-hander struck out a career-high 10 hitters and got out of a bases-loaded jam, all while keeping the nation's top-ranked team off the scoreboard. Behind Weathersby, the Rebels stayed alive in the extra-inning contest before winning in the 16th. Weathersby shut the door to collect the win on the road. The performance earned the senior SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week honors, and he built off the accolade in his next appearance, earning the win at Auburn, before tossing 1.2 scoreless innings to collect a save versus Alabama.
A RARE FEAT
In an 18-4 victory over Central Arkansas on Tuesday, April 21, every Rebel in the starting lineup tallied at least one hit, one run and one RBI in the contest; the feat was accomplished by the fifth inning, marking the first time in Ole Miss history, according to the archives. The Rebels nearly saw it happen in a 28-0 drubbing of Illinois College in 1989. The only statistic missing in that game was a RBI from the Ole Miss starting leadoff hitter. Current Ole Miss baseball radio analyst and former All-SEC selection Keith Kessinger went 3-for-3 with three runs, two doubles and one RBI in that contest. Kessinger knocked in the game's first run as the Rebels crossed the plate 27 more times throughout the game. This season, St. Mary's recorded the rare feat in a 17-1 win over Northwestern, March 25.
THE GAUNTLET
The Rebels have gone through the gauntlet in 2015 with a difficult non-conference schedule as well as facing three teams ranked No. 1 in the country. According to NCAA statistics, Ole Miss has had the nation's third-toughest schedule to this point as the Rebels' opponents are a combined 454-298-1 (.604) this season. Through 45 games, 14 of those contests came against top-15 teams, including nine against No. 1 teams. The Rebels are 7-7 in games against ranked teams and recently took two-of-three from No. 1 Vanderbilt. Ole Miss went through a stretch of playing 8-of-11 games against teams ranked in the top 10, posting an even 4-4 record in those matchups that included a series victory over then-No. 1 Florida. The brutal schedule has forced a young Ole Miss team grow up fast, and the Rebels could benefit from the pressure down the final stretch of the 2015 campaign.
ON THE HORIZON
Following the battle for the Governor's Cup, Ole Miss will remain away from home, heading to Columbia, Mo. for its final SEC road series of the season. The Rebels will face the Missouri Tigers, May 1-3, at Taylor Stadium. The first game against the nationally-ranked Tigers will be at 6:00 p.m. CT Friday night, May 1. The final two contests will be afternoon affairs on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 2:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. respectively. All three games will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and can also be heard on the airwaves of the Ole Miss Radio Network.
