DURHAM, N.C. -- Luke Mistone hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, Graham Kelham was solid in another long relief appearance and Murray State beat Duke 5-4 on Monday night in a winner-take-all championship game at the Durham Super Regional to advance to the program's first Men's College World Series.
Murray State (44-15) became the fourth No. 4 seed to advance to Omaha, Nebraska.
"These guys play the game right," Murray State coach Dan Skirka said. "They play the game together, and I couldn't be more proud of the example they're setting. ... And now they get to go do it in Omaha."
Duke (40-20) was seeking its first appearance in the MCWS since 1961.
Murray State's Jonathan Hogart hit his second home run of the game -- and his 21st of the season -- over the left-field wall and into the pine trees in the seventh inning to tie it at 3.
Murray State retook the lead in the eighth on Mistone's leadoff shot -- just his fourth homer of the year. Dan Tauken's triple then scored Will Vierling from first for a 5-3 lead after the ball caromed off the wall toward center field.
Later in the eighth, the Racers had the bases loaded with no outs after back-to-back walks, but James Tallon struck out two and got a groundout to end the threat.
Murray State appeared to win the game after an interference call at second base, but it was overturned after an official review to give Duke another chance. Kelham regrouped after the celebration to get a groundout to first to end it.
"Man, you talk about one-run games and he's the guy on the mountain," Skirka said.
Kelham, who threw 43 pitches Sunday in a three-inning save, struck out four in 2⅔ innings for his fourth win of the campaign.
"Yesterday, the TV guys asked me how many [pitches Kelham is ready to throw] -- I said probably 40 to 60 -- and again they looked at me like I had 12 heads and I said you don't know how tough this dude is and what it means to these guys," Skirka said. "They're going to leave it all out there, and he did, and his stuff tonight was better than it was yesterday.
"He's a dog -- definition of it right there."
Reid Easterly (9-3) took the loss after allowing two earned runs in three relief innings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.