OXFORD, Miss. – Matt Brown's two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a flurry of late-inning heroics and lifted Missouri State to a 9-8 victory over Saint Louis Sunday afternoon at the NCAA Oxford Regional at Swayze Field.

In the Bears' first-ever postseason contest against their in-state rival, Brown lined a 1-1 pitch from Ryan Lefner (1-5) through the left side of the SLU infield, bringing a hard-charging Drew Millas home with the game-winning run. 

The Bears' decisive rally started with a walk to Millas, before Ben Whetstone slashed a single beyond the outstretched glove of SLU second baseman Cole Dubet to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Lefner recovered momentarily to strike out both Jack Duffy and Logan Geha, but Brown delivered with his first hit of the postseason to allow the Bears to stave off elimination and reach the 40-win plateau for the 12th time under head coach Keith Guttin.

The victory set up a Sunday evening contest for the Bears (40-17) against the loser of the day's second match-up, pitting top seed Ole Miss against No. 2 Tennessee Tech.

The dramatic ending followed a late SLU rally that saw the Billikens (38-20) erase a two-run Bears lead on an eighth-inning homer by Dubet and a two-out single in the ninth by Nick Reeser, after Connor Sechler quickly retired the first two hitters and brought the Bears to within a strike of sealing the victory.

MSU mounted a rally of its own to seize the 8-6 lead with a three-run sixth that was highlighted by RBI singles from Landan Ruff and Hunter Steinmetz. Bears reliever Jake Fromson dispatched the first 11 hitters he faced after entering in the fifth, and the senior combined with Davis Schwab to limit the Billikens to a single run over 5 2/3 combined innings of relief.

The combined relief effort allowed MSU to overcome a sizable early deficit, as the Billikens struck for four runs in the first inning against MSU starter Ty Buckner. A two-run double by James Morisano and a Dubet two-run single handed the Billikens the advantage, after Buckner worked himself into the early jam by issuing a leadoff walk to Kyle Fletcher, then hitting Reeser and Jake Garella with one out to set up Morisano's gap shot to left-center. Dubet followed with a base hit to left-center, chasing home both Garella and Morisano.

MSU answered in the home half of the first, cutting the margin to a single run on Duffy's two-out, three-run homer into the right-field bullpen. But SLU would respond with a key long ball of its own in the second, as Alex King delivered a two-run shot to left following a Fletcher single, stretching the advantage to 6-3.

Back-to-back walks to Brown and John Privitera set up another MSU threat in the bottom of the second, and Steinmetz's hot shot through the right side plated the Bears' fourth run of the day. A walk to Jeremy Eierman loaded the bases, but SLU reliever Drew Reveno struck out Millas looking, before inducing an inning-ending infield pop-up off the bat of Whetstone to limit the damage.

Steinmetz drew the Bears to within one run once again in the fourth, hooking a two-out drive just inside the right-field foul pole to make it a 6-5 contest. The junior outfielder put MSU in front with another run-scoring single as part of the sixth-inning surge and finished the day 3-for-5 with three RBIs.

In addition to Steinmetz's three-hit day, Privitera added a pair of bunt singles, while Duffy matched a career high with his three RBIs.

In his MSU freshman-record 31st appearance of the season, Sechler (7-1) earned the victory with an inning and a third, moving into a tie with Brett Sinkbeil, Bob Zimmerman and Jason Myers for third place on the Bears' all-time wins list for freshman hurlers.

Dubet led the Billikens with a 2-for-4 day at the plate, driving in three runs and scoring another for the A-10 champions. Fletcher scored three times for SLU, and both King and Morisano finished with two RBIs.