Senior catcher Justin Duarte, who was 4-for-4 on the evening, lifted a sacrifice fly to right-center field to score Grady Sain with the go-ahead run and complete Azusa Pacific's rally. Duarte and senior first baseman John Knott got Azusa Pacific back into the game with back-to-back seventh-inning home runs to score 3 runs and pull Azusa Pacific to within 10-8 of Cal State San Bernardino. For Duarte, the blast was his GSAC-leading 16th on the season. Knott connected on his 11th of the campaign and pushed his current hitting streak to 7 straight (he has hit safely in 44 of the Cougars' 46 games this season).

After the Coyotes added an unearned run in the top of the eighth to extend their cushion to 11-8, the Cougars roared back with 5 runs, 3 unearned, in the bottom of the eighth. The inning began to unravel when CSUSB reliever Cody Harmon walked Karel Castro to lead off the inning. Castro moved to second on Harmon's wild pitch and then scored when Harmon threw Bobby Sanchez's sacrifice bunt down the right field line. Three consecutive singles, aided by another Coyote error, scored 2 more runs, setting up Duarte's heroics on the sacrifice fly. The Cougars added another run when Coyote pitcher David Lund mishandled catcher Ron Galvan's toss back to the mound, allowing Nate Philo to scurry home with Azusa Pacific's 13th run.

This Cougar comeback is eerily similar to a comeback the Coyotes staged over Azusa Pacific 3 years ago. In that 1996 game, also played in Azusa, the Cougars led 10-1 after 4 innings. However, Cal State San Bernardino rallied for a 15-12 victory.

Coyote first baseman Ray Flores led off the second inning with his team-leading 12th home run of the season to spark a 6-run second inning that gave CSUSB a 6-1 lead. A third-inning Galvan home run followed by David Rogers' 2-run blast in the fifth pushed the Coyote lead to 10-2 midway through the fifth inning. Galvan finished the game 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and the home run. Flores was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.