Mississippi State–Ole Miss baseball rivalry

The Mississippi State–Ole Miss baseball rivalry is a college baseball rivalry between the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team of Mississippi State University, in Starkville, Mississippi and the Ole Miss Rebels baseball team of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The rivalry series has included a single neutral-site game since 1980, known first as the Mayor's Trophy and later as the Governor's Cup. This game is in addition to the games played as part of the Southeastern Conference schedule.

Mayor's Trophy/Governor's Cup

Mayor's Trophy	Jackson, Mississippi
Mississippi (14)	Mississippi St. (13)
1982 1984 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006	1980 1981 1983 1985 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1997 1998 2001
Governor's Cup	Pearl, Mississippi
Mississippi (4)	Mississippi St. (9)
2009 2010 2012 2015	2007 2008 2011 2013 2014 2016 2017 2018 2019

Mayor's Trophy

Started in 1980 by then Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Dale Danks, Jr., the Mayor's Trophy game had been one of the most anticipated match-ups of the Mississippi college baseball season as it featured Ole Miss versus Mississippi State. In the first 25 editions, the game has drawn an average of 4,887 fans per game. The Mayor's Trophy series ended after the 2006 match-up and was replaced by The Governor's Cup.

Governor's Cup

With the 2007 season, the non-conference meeting between the two teams moved to Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi – which is the home to the Mississippi Braves – and was begun anew as the two teams competed for the Governor's Cup for the first time.

• 2007 – As was the case with the Mayor's Trophy game, the two teams alternate serving as the designated home team. Mississippi, ranked #19, was the home team in the inaugural game on April 17, 2007. Mississippi State, ranked #15, won the game 14–9.
• 2008 – The unranked Bulldogs won again, 6–5, in 2008 in front of a Governor's Cup record 7,862 fans, taking a 2–0 lead in the Governor's Cup series over the #16 ranked Rebels.
• 2009 – The 17th ranked Mississippi Rebels took their first Governor's Cup on April 14, 2009 with an 8–1 victory. There was a crowd of 7,458 in attendance as Brett Bukvich recorded a career-high 11 strike-outs in six innings of work as he was named MVP. 7,458 is the 5th largest attendance mark recorded at Trustmark Park.
• 2010 – The 11th ranked Mississippi Rebels used strong pitching and steady hitting to edge Mississippi State 5–3 for their 2nd consecutive Governor's Cup victory. The MVP was Mississippi pitcher David Goforth.
• 2011 – Behind the strong pitching performances of Kendall Graveman, Chad Girodo, and Taylor Stark, Mississippi State rolled to a 6–1 victory over the Rebels to reclaim the cup in front of a crowd of 7,334.
• 2012 – The 22nd ranked Rebels struck out 16 Bulldog batters en route to a 6–3 victory in front of a rain-soaked crowd of 5533.
• 2013 – 16th ranked Mississippi State routed the 18th Ranked Mississippi by a score of 5–1 in front of a then stadium record crowd of 8,240.
• 2014 – 20th ranked Mississippi State defeated 12 ranked Mississippi 8–3 to claim back to back Governor's Cup wins for the first time since the 2007–2008 games. For the second year in a row, and the third time overall, both teams entered the game ranked in the top 25. The game once again set a Trustmark Park record with a crowd of 8,496.
• 2015 – Mississippi defeated Mississippi State 11–1.
• 2016 – The 3rd ranked Bulldogs defeated the 13th ranked Rebels 2–0 marking the first time that either team had been shutout since the series was renamed the Governor's Cup and the first shutout in the series since the Rebels won 1–0 in 2006.[1]
• 2017 – The 11th ranked Bulldogs defeated the unranked Rebels 4–2, completing first 4-game sweep of the rebels since 1997.[2]
• 2018 - The unranked Bulldogs defeated the 6th ranked Rebels 7-6 with a bottom of the 9th, walk-off 2-run double by Luke Alexander to clench their third straight Governor's Cup. The Bulldogs were 3-1 versus the Rebels during the 2018 season, winning the earlier SEC series at Dudy Noble Field to then 3rd ranked Rebels.[3]
• 2020 - Canceled due to COVID-19

Game results

Mississippi State victories

Ole Miss victories

Tie games

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 1980 Jackson Mississippi State 9–2 2 1981 Jackson Mississippi State 4–3 3 1982 Jackson Ole Miss 8–5 4 1983 Jackson Mississippi State 9–1 5 1984 Jackson Ole Miss 4–3 6 1985 Jackson Mississippi State 5–2 7 1986 Jackson Mississippi State 8–5 8 1987 Jackson Ole Miss 6–4 9 1988 Jackson Mississippi State 7–4 10 1989 Jackson Ole Miss 4–3 11 1990 Jackson Mississippi State 4–1 12 1991 Jackson Ole Miss 5–4 13 1992 Jackson Mississippi State 4–3 14 1993 Jackson Ole Miss 6–5 No. Date Location Winner Score 15 1994 Jackson Mississippi State 5–3 16 1995 Jackson Ole Miss 5–4 17 1996 Jackson Mississippi State 8–4 18 1997 Jackson Mississippi State 7–3 19 1998 Jackson Mississippi State 9–3 20 1999 Jackson Ole Miss 10–6 21 2000 Jackson Ole Miss 4–1 22 2001 Jackson Mississippi State 15–6 23 2002 Jackson Ole Miss 8–4 24 2003 Jackson Ole Miss 5–1 25 2004 Jackson Ole Miss 10–4 26 2005 Jackson Ole Miss 5–1 27 2006 Jackson Ole Miss 1–0 28 2007 Pearl Mississippi State 14–9 No. Date Location Winner Score 29 2008 Pearl Mississippi State 6–5 30 2009 Pearl Ole Miss 8–1 31 2010 Pearl Ole Miss 5–3 32 2011 Pearl Mississippi State 6–1 33 2012 Pearl Ole Miss 6–3 34 2013 Pearl Mississippi State 5–1 35 2014 Pearl Mississippi State 8–3 36 2015 Pearl Ole Miss 11–1 37 2016 Pearl Mississippi State 2–0 38 2017 Pearl Mississippi State 4–2 39 2018 Pearl Mississippi State 7–6 40 2019 Pearl Mississippi State 8–1 Series: Mississippi State leads 22–18

References

1. "Poplarville's Zac Houston earns Governor's Cup baseball win for MSU". Retrieved 30 March 2017.
2. "Live Updates: Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State". Retrieved 2017-06-06.
3. "No. 6 Rebels fall to Bulldogs in thrilling Governor's Cup". Retrieved 2018-04-25.