Scott Carroll struck out a career-high 12 batters and allowed a mere three hits in seven innings of work but it was an all too familiar result for the Missouri State baseball team Friday in Omaha as the Bears dropped a 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference decision at Creighton.

For the Bluejays (40-12, 19-4 MVC), the win was their 21st in 22 games and kept the door open for a league championship that can be gained Saturday. Missouri State fell to 21-32 and 6-17 in the conference.

In a repeat of Thursday’s series opener, it was the combination of Andrew Small and Chad Ogden that did the Bears in.

With the game tied at 2-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, Small drew a leadoff walk and stole second before being bunted over to third and scoring on Ogden’s sacrifice fly to give the Bluejays a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish. Ogden either drove in or scored all of CU’s runs.

The Missouri State offense came out hot, getting back-to-back hits from Ben Woodbury and Chris Taylor to open the game, but CU starter Zak Moore quickly got a double-play ball and a fly out to keep the Bears off the scoreboard.

The Bears scored their first runs of the series with a two-spot in the third. With two outs, Woodbury singled and Taylor hit a ground-rule double to right that forced Woodbury to stop at third on a play he would have easily scored on. It turned out to not matter, as Nolan Keane tripled off the wall in center near the 408’ sign to score both runners.

The Jays knotted the score at 2-2 in the fifth when the ninth-place hitter Michael Lam lined a two-out single to center the bring Ogden around from second.

Carroll (4-4) retired the first four batters he faced via strike out and the first six overall before Ogden homered to lead off the third.

Keane was 3-for-4 with both MSU RBIs while Woodbury and Taylor logged two hits apiece in a game where the Bears doubled CU’s hit total at 8-4.

It’s the same two teams tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the season finale for both.