Photo by Samantha Davis. Minneota catcher Carson Javers (left) and pitcher Mason Javers (right) run together and hug after Mason threw a final strikeout for the Vikings' 9-8 win over Murray County Central in the Section 3A elimination bracket quarterfinals Thursday night at the Irish Yard in Milroy.

MILROY — Meeting for the second time this postseason, the No. 4 Minneota baseball team upset top-seeded Murray County Central 9-8 with a seventh inning run to break the tie in the elimination bracket quarterfinals Thursday night at the Irish Yard in Milroy to remain in title contention, while the loss ends the Rebels’ season.

“This feels awesome. Coming off two times losing to these guys, we just knew what we had to do,” Minneota catcher Carson Javers said. “We had to get the ball in play right away, and just let it hang.”

In a high hitting game with the Rebels and Vikings fighting off one another offensively the entire night with a handful of lead changes, MCC tied the score up 8-8 in the sixth inning before Mason Javers scored the Vikings’ go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning off an Ian Myhre RBI single.

MCC had two runs in third inning to start the day’s scoring, while Minneota brought in four in top of fourth. The Rebels responded with five in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-4 lead, to which the Vikings again scored another four in the sixth to take back an 8-7 edge.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, MCC’s Teague Meyer scored off a Dylan Kluis line-drive single to deep center field to lock the game up at 8.

“We just knew the more they hit, the more energy we had to get,” Carson said. “We had to keep the bat going, put the ball in play and make them make mistakes.”

Mason got into scoring position in the top of the 7th inning after being walked, and proceeded to steal second base and took third with a Kaden Christensen sacrifice bunt.

Myhre stepped up to the plate and sent the baseball to right center field off a line drive to bring in Mason as the dugout and crowd filled the stands with cheers.

Dugan Kluis struck out Minneota for the final out to prevent Myhre from going home in hopes of a walk-off in the bottom of the seventh.

With MCC up to the plate in the game’s final at-bat, Mason threw a pair of strikeouts and Christensen fielded a ground ball and threw to first baseman Kyson Arndt for the final three outs, securing Minneota’s spot in the elimination semifinals.

“That [final out] was awesome,” Carson said. “Just knowing that we got one more day to live.”

For Minneota, Brody Larson pitched for four innings, while Mason relieved for the final three.

Dylan was on the mound for MCC for six innings, and Dugan relieved with one out for the remainder of the game.

Minneota first defeated fifth-seed Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove 4-3 in the first round of section before playing MCC in the subsection semifinals, with the Rebels handing an 8-3 loss.

The Vikings bounced back with a 7-4 upset victory over No. 2 Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian in the elimination bracket first round to advance and face MCC again.

“We’re going to keep rolling with it,” Carson said. “We’ve been playing good baseball. We’re getting hot at the right moment.”

MCC’s Krew Schneider hit a two-run RBI double to score both Meyer and Dugan for the Rebels’ two third-inning runs to begin the game.

Eli Gruenes, Arndt, Kellen Bradley and Destin Fier accounted for the Vikings’ four runs in the fourth.

Gruenes scored with an Arndt RBI single, who also was the game-tying run at 2-2 after stealing home off a wild pitch.

“We got a lot of seniors on the team, but I think tonight, it was mainly the younger kids. It was a learning experience, but they also put in the work,” Larson said. “[We were] focusing on the routine plays, making the plays that we were supposed to. Obviously the errors didn’t help, but just focusing in, and knowing that we were supposed to be here.”

Bradley, courtesy running for Mason who was walked, gave Minneota the lead after scoring on another wild pitch.

Fier also scored on a pitching error before MCC ended the inning with a pair of fly ball catches from Levi Kopperud in center field and a diving catch from Gabe Tentinger in right field.

Bats became contagious for the Rebels quickly in response to Minneota in the bottom of the frame for five runs, and the game continued on in a competitive showdown.

“We got down a little bit, we made a couple errors, but this team, we fight,” Carson said. “We’ve been doing that the last two days. We kind of dealt with a little bit of adversity, but we came back through it.”

The Rebels were on a mission to make their way back into title contention after being sent to the elimination bracket with a 7-5 quarterfinal loss to No. 3 Yellow Medicine East on Wednesday, just their second loss of the season.

MCC finishes its season 16-3 overall, and graduates seniors Hudson Schryvers, Dylan and Drew Wajer.

Minneota (15-8) will next look to keep the momentum going when it takes on top-seeded Dawson-Boyd (17-3) on Saturday in the elimination bracket semifinals. The winner will advance to the elimination finals to play for a spot in the championship game.

“It’s nice to win these types of games, especially with everything that went on. We got down early, came back and went up, and then had that big snowballing, then ended up coming back,” Larson said. “We came through when it mattered.”

The game is slated to take place at 2:30 p.m. at Yankee Field.