AZUSA, Calif. -- The 2018 PacWest baseball regular season finished in a dramatic race for the conference title with the top-2 teams in the league playing each other for the title in the regular season finale, which Azusa Pacific won 15-11 on Wednesday for the program's second-consecutive PacWest title.

Azusa Pacific entered the final week of the season needing to win two games against Point Loma in order to take first place in the PacWest, while Point Loma needed three wins for its first PacWest title in program history. The Sea Lions won the first two games of the series to extend its incredible winning streak to 16 games and move within a single win of earning the banner. With their backs against the wall mathematically, the Cougars won the third game of the series to set up a winner-take-all regular season finale on Wednesday afternoon at the Cougar Baseball Complex.

The Cougars rushed out to a 3-0 lead off a pinch-hit two-run shot to leftfield by Steven Garrett in the second inning. Point Loma got one of those runs back, but not before Azusa Pacific sent eight runs across the plate in the bottom of the third inning. Sean Aspinall, Joseph Quire and Pablo O'Connor all homered in the inning to earn an 11-1 lead.

Point Loma chipped away at that lead and had the game-tying run in the on-deck circle in both the eighth and ninth inning. Spiro Valasakos ended the threat in the ninth inning by inducing an infield pop-up for the final out of the game as the Cougars won 15-11 for the title. Tripp Aversa was credited with the win after pitching effectively for two innings in relief.

The Cougars' start to the season is what put them in great position to win the title going into the final series of the year. The Cougars were a perfect 10-0 in non-conference play, and that success carried over into the PacWest season. They won all of their first seven series of the conference schedule to record wins in 24 of 27 games. Azusa Pacific's lead in the standings at that point seemed insurmountable, but Point Loma came all the way back to tie the standings with a game left to play in the regular season.

Azusa Pacific will next play in the NCAA West Regional and will find out next week if it will host the tournament for a second year in a row. In the latest regional rankings, Azusa Pacific is No. 2 in the region, while California Baptist moved up to No. 3 and Point Loma is No. 5 in the West Region.