AZUSA, Calif. – With the Cougar regulars taking a seat on the bench in the regular season finale, the reserves battled extremely well until the end.

After clinching the PacWest title yesterday, the Azusa Pacific team fell to Dixie State 4-3 in the final game before the start of the playoffs.

The Azusa Pacific starting nine had a total of 22 starts between them this season. A handful of Cougars had multi-hit games as Steven Garrett, Griffin Herrea and Hunter Bingham each had two base hits. Garrett smashed a third inning homerun while Bingham scored and drove-in another run in his only appearance of the season.

Using nine different pitchers, with each hurler getting an inning of work, they combined to strike 10 but fell just short in getting a "Johnny Wholestaff" win.

Despite the setback the ninth-ranked Cougars (40-10, 27-9 PacWest) have locked-up the league automatic berth into the NCAA West Region Championship which begins on Thursday, May 18. On Sunday, May 14 at 7 p.m. (PDT) the NCAA will have its selection show to announce who is joining them at the six-team regional. The location will also be announced at NCAA.com/live.

Dixie State got on the scoreboard first with a run in the initial frame. The Cougars scored twice in the second inning as Bingham and Grant Gamble collected an RBI. In the third stanza Garrett's homerun gave the home team 3-1 edge.

The No. 17 Trailblazers (37-12-1, 26-9-1 PacWest) rallied with a pair of runs in the fifth inning as Ryan Rodriguez and Reece Lucero had run scoring base knocks. The score remained deadlocked at 3-3 until the eighth frame when Drew McLaughlin hit a triple then scored when the relay throw bounced into the dugout allowing him to score what proved to be the winning run.