PEARL — The neon capital B over Trustmark Park’s scoreboard was out, leaving just the raves in neon lights.

On Tuesday night before 5,533 fans, all the raves went to the Ole Miss bullpen. Three Rebel relievers combined to toss 51⁄3 innings of shutout ball, striking out 12, to lead Ole Miss past Mississippi State 6-3 in the annual Governor’s Cup game.

Add in four from starter Sam Smith and the Rebel pitchers chalked up 16 strikeouts. The big number of K’s got everyone’s attention, including Mississippi State coach John Cohen.

“Obviously, if you strike out 16 times, you’re not going to win,” Cohen said.

Ole Miss first baseman Matt Snyder saw all 16 strikeouts.

“I loved it,” Snyder said of the Bulldogs’ whiffs. “You don’t have to do too much. I told (Alex) Yarbrough out in the field, this was pretty good stuff watching these guys just pound the zone. It was great to see.”

Snyder did his part for the Ole Miss offense with three hits, including an RBI in the first inning and another in the decisive four-run fourth.

Despite his solid game, Snyder was not the MVP. That went deservedly to Ole Miss relief pitcher Hawtin Buchanan, who picked up the win in his first decision.

Right after Ole Miss (25-12) went up 5-1 in the top of the fourth, Mississippi State (21-16) came back to score two to push Smith out of the game. In came the 6-foot-8 Buchanan. He struck out Sam Frost to end the inning. He struck out two in the fifth and two more in the sixth. He got a pop out to start the seventh when Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco made a move to bring in Aaron Greenwood.

“He got us some good strikeouts when we needed it,” Bianco said of Buchanan. “This was definitely his best game of the year.”

Buchanan was ready for his shot. His previous long outing was 11⁄3 innings against Southern Miss on March 20 in Oxford.

“Absolutely the adrenaline was there,” Buchanan said. “I felt I had pretty good command of my fastball. My breaking-ball command was better than the last time I threw. I had an idea of the importance of this game.”

When Buchanan left, Ole Miss was still up 5-3. The Rebels got another run in the eighth to make it 6-3.

Dylan Chavez, Ole Miss’ normal setup man for closer Brett Huber, got the last five outs to pick up his first save. He struck out four.

Tied at 1 in the fourth inning, Ole Miss knocked State starter Brandon Woodruff (0-1) out of the game with a string of five hits.

Snyder started it with a hit to right. Will Allen followed with a chopper up the middle. After a strikeout, Austin Bousfield chopped a ball that State third baseman Daryl Norris had to wait on. It was enough for Snyder to score to break the tie.

Zack Kirksey sent a hit to right to score Allen. With Andrew Mistone up, Kirksey broke to swipe second. State catcher Mitch Slauter thought he had a play with Bousfield off third base, but the throw got away allowing Bousfield to score for a 4-1 lead. Mistone knocked Woodruff out of the game with a sharp single to center to score Kirksey for a 5-1 lead.

Mississippi State got two back in the bottom half of the inning on Hunter Renfroe’s sacrifice fly to right and Tyler Fullerton’s two-out single that knocked Smith out of the game.