Missouri State tops Saint Louis 9-8 in NCAA elimination game

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Matt Brown's single scored Drew Millas from second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Missouri State to a 9-8 win over Saint Louis after the Bears surrendered a two-run lead late in an NCAA regional elimination game Sunday.

The winning hit off Ryan Lefner (1-5) came after Nick Reeser hit a tying, two-out single in the top of the ninth against Missouri State closer Connor Sechler (7-1), who got the victory.

The Bears (40-16) advanced to another elimination game scheduled for later Sunday in the Oxford Regional against the Mississippi-Tennessee Tech loser.

Saint Louis is 0-8 in four regional appearances since 2006.

Cole Dubet's solo homer in the eighth got the Billikens (38-20) within a run after the Bears had a three-run seventh that included leadoff man Hunter Steinmetz's third run-scoring hit — a tiebreaking single. Steinmetz had a solo homer in the fourth and another RBI single in the second.

Jack Duffy connected on a three-run homer in the first after the Billikens scored four runs in the top of the inning on James Morisano's two-run double and Dubet's two-RBI single.