SAN MARCOS—Biola’s Cinderella story lasted well past midnight but finally came to a close in the 11^th inning of today’s title game against CSU San Marcos.

Playing in the rubber match of the NCAA West Super Regional, with a trip to the NCAA National Championships on the line, the Cougars broke open a 1-1 game in extra innings for an eventual 6-3 victory.

Biola, who finished second in conference play and in the PacWest Championships, had won four straight NCAA postseason games before falling to CSU San Marcos twice today, 10-2 and 6-3.

The Eagles will wrap up an inspiring season at 42-23 overall, while the Cougars will continue on to the Elite Eight at 55-18.

Biola fell 10-2 in the first game after the Cougars put seven total runs on the board in the first two innings. It was too big a hole to crawl out of and CSUSM wrapped up the game after six innings via the mercy rule.

In the second game, the Eagles got on the board first in the bottom of the second. Mikayla Huskey singled, was moved to second on Lizzie Byer’s bunt. Huskey then stole third base and came home when the catcher’s throw sailed into left field.

That 1-0 lead held until the Cougars scored in the fifth to make it 1-1. The seven regulation innings weren’t enough as the game carried into the tenth before anyone scored again.

The Cougars made it 2-1 but Biola matched that run when Kennadie Tsue singled and later scored on an error to tie the game at 2-2 and send it to the 11^th.

But things came unraveled in the top half of that inning. The Cougars would push across four runs on three hits and an error to take a 6-2 lead. The Eagles got one run back on Tsue’s RBI single but that would be it as the upset kids finally gave up the ghost.

Huskey and Kendall Nakano had two hits for Biola. Pitcher DJ Symons gave a valiant effort in relief before taking the loss, finishing with eight innings pitched with just one earned run, nine hits and eight strikeouts.