Junior Jordan Lowe did his best to see that the nine seniors on the Cal State San Bernardino baseball team closed out their collegiate careers with a win on Sunday.
    Entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, he delivered a two-run homer to cut San Francisco State's lead to 7-6, then singled in the game-winning run in the 12th inning, bringing home Brent Planck who had just doubled home another senior Andrew Tapia to tie the game.
    The result was a 9-8 victory by the Coyotes in the 2009 season finale before a sun-drenched crowd at Fiscalini Field. The victory enabled CSUSB to close out the year with a .500 record -- 23-23 -- and finish CCAA conference play at 17-18, good enough for sixth place.
    The Coyotes closed out the year with a four-game sweep of the Gators (14-33 overall, 7-29 CCAA) but this win didn't come easy as the Gators battled every inning and had the lead three times only to have CSUSB tie it up or go ahead.
    Chad Borowski, the fourth CSUSB pitcher, went the final four innings, giving up just three hits -- one of them a solo home run by San Francisco's Greg Kline that put the Gators up 8-7 in the top of the 12th. Borowski (3-0) got the win as the last of three relievers after freshman Aaron Brooks went six innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and striking out seven.
     The Gators' fourth reliever, Ryan DeJesus (1-2) gave up a leadoff double to Tapia and then Planck doubled to right center to score Tapia. Zane Boelhke relieved DeJesus after the latter intentionally walked Chris Olsen. Lowe was the first batter Boelhke faced and he laced a single into left that scored Planck with the winning run.
      Lowe was 3-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored while Tapia was 3-for-5 with three runs scored for CSUSB. Senior Johnnie Haas and Omar Manzanarez each had two hits in the 16-hit Coyotes attack.
      Ryan Williams and Kline both homered and had four hits for the Gators in their 16-hit attack. Nick Nyman and Zack Anderson each had a pair of hits in the contest.
      Before the game, Coyote Athletics and the coaching staff honored the nine seniors who suited up for their final collegiate games -- Haas, Jesus Beltran, David McCarthy, Tapia, Danny Soles, Bryan W. Hart, Joe Martinez, Chris Olsen and Ernie Medina.
      Martinez retired the side in order in his one-inning relief stint while Medina struck out the side in his one inning of relief, although he did give up three runs, putting the Gators up 7-4  in the top of the eighth.
After that it was Borowski who made one bad pitch in four innings of work but Tapia, Planck and Lowe came to the rescue in the bottom of the 12th.