SPRINGFIELD -- Malay Bhatt reached the quarterfinals of the Springfield Invitational singles tournament Wednesday as the Poplar Bluff senior returned to the site of the state championships.

Bhatt won his first two matches before losing to Brandon Champagne of Jenks, located in Tulsa, Okla., 8-4.

Champagne went on to finish third in the tournament.

Chris Drury and Kelsey Brown won their first doubles match as the Mules finished tied for 13th in the 27-team field.

"It was good for all of them heading into districts," Mules coach Charles Harper said. "Probably the best (competition) they'll see before then."

After a first-round bye, Bhatt knocked off Tim Burgio of Kickapoo, 8-4. In the round of 16, Bhatt edged Springfield Central's Mark Simon in a tiebreaker 9-8 (7-1) before losing to Champagne.

Drury and Brown won their first match 8-4 against Parkview's Thomas Funk and Ben Gentry before losing 8-1 to Rogersville's Jordan Bridges and Josh Carr in the second round.

Navneet Hundal and Kyle West lost their first match 8-6 to Carthage's Cole Beckham and Rayce Lashley.

Malden 6, Bernie 3

The Green Wave built a 6-0 lead in the first four innings and held off a Mules rally to hand them their first loss of the spring.

After putting a pair of runs on the board in the second inning with the help of stolen bases by Cody Collins and Sean Merritt, the Green Wave scored their final four runs in the fourth inning.

Matt Noe's two-run double stretched the lead to 5-0 before an RBI single by Travis Gregory scored Noe for a 6-0 Green Wave advantage.

The Mules (3-1) answered with RBI singles by Silas Dill and Jay Massey in the fifth and a solo home run by Jake Owens in the seventh.

Kaleb Loughary struck out six and walked one while allowing nine hits to get the complete-game win for Malden.

Owens pitched six innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and four walks in taking the loss for the Mules, and finished the day 2-for-3 with the home run and two runs scored.

Dill went 2-for-4 with an RBI while Jake Welch and Blake Keasler also went 2-for-4. Dustin Cluck doubled for the Mules.

Noe went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Green Wave while Collins and Merritt each scored twice.