College Roundup: Bulldogs Finish Sweep Of Rival Ole Miss

RECAP | MSU Wins Governor’s Cup, Completes Regular-Season Sweep Of Rebels

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Mississippi State swept Mississippi in their Southeastern Conference series earlier this month. The Bulldogs completed the regular-season sweep of their archrivals with a 4-2 victory in the Governor’s Cup game in Pearl, Miss.

How the Top 25 Fared

(1) Oregon State: postponed vs. Oregon

(2) Louisville: won, 14-4, at Eastern Kentucky

(3) North Carolina: won, 11-2, vs. Elon

(4) Texas Christian: lost, 6-2, vs. Stephen F. Austin

(5) Auburn: lost, 5-2, vs. Troy

(6) Clemson: won, 7-2, vs. College of Charleston

(7) Texas Tech: lost, 16-5, at New Mexico

(8) Mississippi State: won, 4-2, vs. Mississippi in Pearl, Miss.

(9) Long Beach State: lost, 5-1, vs. UCLA

(10) Kentucky: off

(11) Florida: off

(12) Virginia: cancelled vs. Radford

(13) Arizona: won, 11-2, vs. New Mexico State

(14) Cal State Fullerton: off

(15) Louisiana State: lost, 9-6, at Tulane

(16) Arkansas: won, 6-5, in 10 innings vs. Kansas State in Kansas City

(17) Wake Forest: cancelled at UNC Greensboro

(18) Stanford: won, 8-2, vs. Santa Clara

(19) Texas A&M: won, 5-2, vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

(20) Houston: lost, 12-2, vs. Sam Houston State

(21) Maryland: cancelled vs. James Madison

(22) St. John’s: off

(23) Michigan: off

(24) Mercer: lost, 15-7, vs. Georgia Southern

(25) West Virginia: won, 8-6, at Virginia Tech

No. 8 Mississippi State (29-14) swept the regular season series against Ole Miss (25-16) for the first time since 1997 and has now won the Governor’s Cup in four of the last five years.

“The atmosphere was great,” coach Andy Cannizaro said. “I am excited because the kids played a complete nine innings tonight. We picked up some timely hits, played well defensively and pitched it well. We have been talking about playing better on Tuesday nights. We really played well in this game.”

First baseman Brent Rooker (2-for-4, 2 R) led the Bulldogs offensively. He opened the scoring with a three-run home run in the fifth inning that proved to be the difference in the game. Rooker is hitting .403/.505/.893 with 17 home runs, the most by a Bulldog since 2009.

Righthander Denver McQuary was the latest pitcher to step up for Mississippi State, which has been beset by injuries. The freshman held Ole Miss to two runs on five hits and five walks in five innings to earn his first career win. Four Bulldogs relievers combined for four scoreless innings to close out the victory.

UCLA bounced back from a tough weekend series loss to No. 1 Oregon State by going on the road and beating No. 9 Long Beach State, 5-1. The Bruins (19-18) swept the home-and-home series against the Dirtbags (25-14), as they won 2-1 last week in Westwood.

Lefthander Justin Hooper started both games for UCLA and held Beach to one run in 10.2 innings over the two starts. The sophomore on Tuesday earned the victory, striking out five and scattering five hits and three walks. First baseman Sean Bouchard homered and catcher Gavin Johns added three hits.

The victory pushed UCLA above .500 for the season and raised its RPI to No. 49. The Bruins are in third place in the Pac-12 Conference and are working themselves into position for an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament after starting the season 6-11.

Elsewhere in the country, it was a wild day of offense. No. 2 Louisville defeated Eastern Kentucky, 14-4, behind four home runs from Preseason All-American Brendan McKay. Samford beat Alabama A&M, 30-1, matching a school record for runs that had stood for 104 years. Western Kentucky hit eight home runs.