During its remarkable late-season surge, Mississippi State seemed capable of beating every team in the country.

Every team, that is, except pesky Samford.

Brandon Miller doubled in the tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning, then scored the eventual winning run on a throwing error as Samford rallied to beat Mississippi State 3-2 and eliminated the Bulldogs from the NCAA Tallahassee Regional on Sunday.

Mississippi State won 19 of 24 games entering the regional, a hot streak that included a run to the Southeastern Conference tournament championship. It lost two of its three games at the regional, however, with both defeats coming to Samford (41-22). The Bulldogs from Birmingham beat MSU 5-0 in the regional opener Friday, then again in Sunday’s elimination game.

Later Sunday, Samford lost 5-2 to Florida State and was eliminated. Florida State advanced to the super regional round and will face Stanford.

“I think day-in, day-out, if we played them 10 times we’re going to win that. Or if we played them in a weekend series, we’re going to win that. It just didn’t fall our way in these two games,” Mississippi State catcher Mitch Slauter said. “But they’re a better ball club than a lot of people out there probably know.”

Mississippi State (40-24) finished the 18th 40-win season in school history, and first since 2005. The Bulldogs only have three seniors on the roster.

“I thought our kids competed well. I think we have the basis for a really good future in our program. That doesn’t really help us right now,” MSU coach John Cohen, rubbing his face in his hands, said at a postgame press conference.

Samford went through Mississippi State’s two best pitchers in the regional. After hitting four home runs and beating SEC Pitcher of the Year Chris Stratton on Friday, Samford became the first team this season to touch MSU closer Jonathan Holder.

The true freshman from Gulfport had not allowed a run in a school-record 271⁄3 innings of work before Sunday. Holder (2-1) entered the game with two outs in the seventh inning and was greeted by a single from Phillip Ervin. Miller followed with his RBI double to tie the score at 2, and a throwing error on a ball hit by C.K. Irby allowed Miller to score the go-ahead run.

“We had poise, definitely. It’s stressful when you have guys on base and we don’t knock them in. We were putting good swings on the ball all day and we finally got the balls to fall for us. We weren’t pressing, we just knew what we had to do in certain situations,” said Miller, who was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and two runs scored.

Mississippi State had one last chance in the ninth inning, but stranded runners at second and third. After a walk to Sam Frost and a double by Adam Frazier, Samford’s closer Irby got a strikeout and a fly out to end the game.

Irby, who started the game as the designated hitter, escaped the ninth-inning jam to earn his 10th save of the season. He also went 2-for-4 at the plate.

Frazier, Wes Rea and Matthew Britton had two hits apiece for Mississippi State.

“What a gutsy effort by a group of kids that’s never been here before,” Samford coach Casey Dunn said. “To come into this environment, in regional play, to be an elimination game, to make it be a one-run game and hold their composure. It was really impressive for a group of guys for their first time ever in this experience.”