AZUSA, Calif. -- For the third straight season, Azusa Pacific's season ended in defeat to UC San Diego as the Tritons rallied from a game down in the best-of-three series for 6-5 and 16-5 wins over the Cougars Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Division II West Super Regional.

With the victory, UC San Diego claimed its third consecutive West Region title and advances to the NCAA Division II World Series. Azusa Pacific, meanwhile, advanced one step closer to the elusive regional championship by putting UC San Diego to the brink of elimination for two games and forcing the Tritons to win in a winner-take-all matchup.

The opener featured three lead changes before the Tritons offense exploded in the series finale to run away with the victory.

What It Means: With the defeat, Azusa Pacific finishes the season with a 40-15 overall record, notching three consecutive 40-win campaigns for the first time in program history. The Cougars have also claimed three straight PacWest titles and advanced closer to the NCAA Division II World Series than it had in any of its three previous NCAA playoff appearances.

How It Happened (Super Regional Game 2): After handily winning Friday's series opener by a 13-2 margin, Azusa Pacific had its best chance to close out the Tritons in a back-and-forth battle in Saturday's opener. The Cougars captured the lead just two pitches into the game when Cole Kleszcz ripped his NCAA-leading 27th home run of the season, but UC San Diego answered with a Shay Whitcomb homer in the bottom of the first.

When Azusa Pacific produced a four-run seventh inning to take a 5-4 lead, UC San Diego responded again with a leadoff single and a two-run home run from R.J. Prince in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead for good.

How It Happened (Super Regional Game 3): In the winner-take-all Game 3 of the series, UC San Diego jumped out to a 6-0 lead, which the Cougars slashed in half with a three-run fourth inning. The Tritons came right back with a five-run fifth, pulling away for good while a trio of UCSD relievers held the dangerous Azusa Pacific offense to just two runs the rest of the way.

Steven Schuknecht was UC San Diego's offensive leader among a handful of standouts for the Tritons, as Schuknecht blasted three home runs and drove in six in the decisive Game 3 after notching a sixth-inning solo shot in the opener. R.J. Prince also homered in both games Saturday, and he and Blake Baumgartner each drove in four runs in Game 3.

Numbers & Notes: Azusa Pacific was led by senior catcher Justin Gomez, who collected two hits in each game to finish his career with a 22-game hitting streak. Junior leftfielder Griffen Herrera was 3-for-5 in each of Saturday's games, while Osvaldo Tovalin picked up a hit in each game to tie the PacWest single-season hits record (91).

Super Regional Final Press Conference (Head Coach Paul Svagdis with Justin Gomez, Joe Quire Jr., Mychael Goudreau, Hayden Jorgenson)