COLUMBIA, Mo. --Thanks to a pair of victories Saturday -- including a 10-inning thriller -- Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy is the champion of Missouri American Legion baseball.

Chaffee finished off its improbable climb out of the loser's bracket by beating Kirksville twice -- 8-1 in the opener and 7-6 in the extra-inning, winner-take-all title contest -- to capture the four-team Senior Legion state tournament.

After falling to Kirksville 9-6 in Thursday's opening round, Chaffee faced the prospect of needing four straight wins in order to claim the title. And that's exactly what happened as the squad posted two lopsided victories Friday -- 5-0 over Rolla and 12-1 over Blue Springs -- to set up Saturday's action.

"To win a state title is just unbelievable, especially the way we had to do it by coming out of the loser's bracket," said an emotional Chaffee manager Jeff Graviett. "I can't say enough about the job everybody did. You look at the 13 players on this team, not one of them didn't have a role in this championship. They all contributed, and the same with the coaches. That's what state championships are all about."

Chaffee will carry a 51-11 record into the eight-team regional tournament that begins Thursday in Enid, Okla.

"We're excited about making that trip," Graviett said. "This is quite an accomplishment for a small community like Chaffee."

Saturday's deciding contest, which came after Chaffee had handed Kirksville (40-7) its first tournament loss earlier in the day, could not have been more exciting. Nor could it have ended in more dramatic fashion.

Chaffee, battling from behind the entire game -- the squad faced deficits of 4-1 and 6-4 -- pulled into a 6-6 tie as Todd Friend delivered a two-out, two-run double in the top of the seventh inning.

That's the way things stood through the regulation nine innings. Chaffee then took its first and only lead of the game in the top of the 10th.

Justin Simpher led off with a single and was pinch-run for by Scott Eftink, who was replaced on the bases by Friend after Friend reached on a fielder's choice. Friend was still on first with two outs when Garrett Cook came through with a triple to the center-field wall.

Chaffee still needed three more outs to secure the championship and Graviett turned to ace pitcher Matt Stroup, who had hurled all nine innings of Saturday's first game. Stroup followed Simpher, who had come through with stellar relief work in place of starter G.P. Glueck.

Stroup immediately got into trouble in the bottom of the 10th as Matt Williams and Dustin Murphy both singled and moved up to second and third on a passed ball. Zane Taylor, Kirksville's best hitter, was then intentionally walked to load the based with nobody out.

"It didn't look good at that point," said Graviett. "But the passed ball might have actually helped us because we were able to walk Taylor, who is a tremendous hitter. We didn't have an answer for him, but the passed ball allowed us to put him on and not hurt us."

Stroup somehow wriggled out of the mess, striking out Brandon Crisp and Adam Bethel -- two of Kirksville's better hitters -- and then getting Steve Lyons on a routine fly ball that to right that was hauled in by Friend.

"Matt wants the baseball in big situations," said Graviett. "He's pitched in so many big games during his career."

Said Stroup, "It's by far the best moment in my career."

Simpher, who took over for Glueck after Kirksville had scored three times in the fourth to go up 4-1, allowed just two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings to help keep Chaffee in contention. He received credit for the victory, improving his record to 9-2.

"The last two weeks Justin has stepped up big time for us," Graviett said.

Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, Jon Heuring drilled a two-run triple with two outs as Chaffee pulled into a 4-4 tie. Kirksville went back ahead with two in the bottom of the sixth before Friend's two-run triple in the seventh forged the final deadlock.

"We just kept battling back," said Graviett. "It was a tremendous team effort."

Glueck allowed four runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. He was hurt by eight walks.

Stroup and Cook both had two of Chaffee's 10 hits. Cook joined Friend and Heuring in driving in two runs.

Taylor had three hits and three RBIs to lead Kirksville's 11-hit attack.

In Saturday's first contest, Stroup improved to 14-2 as he scattered 10 hits while striking out seven and walking none.

Medicap Pharmacy banged out 13 hits, led by Cook with three, including two doubles. Friend tripled twice while Simpher, Andrew DePeder and Perry Rice all added two hits. Cook and Simpher both had two RBIs.

Chaffee went ahead for good in the bottom of the second inning as Friend tripled and Cook drove him home with a double.

It became 3-0 in the third as DePeder had an RBI single and another run scored on an error.

Kirksville got its lone run in the fifth, but Chaffee pulled away late by scoring twice in the sixth, twice in the seventh and once in the eighth.

Cook led the tournament in total bases with 17. He had nine hits and seven RBIs in the five tourney games.

"Garrett had a great tournament and so did a lot of guys," Graviett said.

Other leading hitters for Chaffee in the tournament were Rice with seven hits and Stroup, DePeder and Friend with six each. Rice had seven RBIs during Friday's two victories.