The Gators lost a heartbreaker in the rubber game of their four-game series versus the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters 5-3 in extra innings, and ended up splitting the weekend series.

Gators pitcher Jason Swick took the mound in the ninth inning working on a brilliant four hit shutout, in front of an excited crowd at Maloney Field Sunday afternoon with the Gators (18-23-2, 8-17-1 CCAA) up 3-0. Things took a turn for the worse though, as he gave up a two-out RBI single to Nick Zaballos followed by a heartbreaking two-run double to Chuck Geffert that tied the game and sent an exhausted Swick to the clubhouse.

“I think fatigue just set in, man,” Swick said. “There is no excuse though, I made a couple of bad pitches and they hit them. I’ve played this game long enough to know that a pitcher has to have a short memory so I’m not rattled, I’m already thinking about my next start versus San Diego.”

Until that tough ninth inning, Swick was almost unhittable maneuvering his fastball on the black of the plate and changing speeds regularly keeping the Otter’s hitters guessing. Swick finished with four strikeouts, three earned runs and seven hits allowed in 8 2-3 innings.

“You gotta leave him in there, he earned the right to win that game,” head coach Matt Markovich said. “He didn’t make any mistakes until the ninth. That’s the beauty and the frustration of this game.”

The Gators offense was led by Senior Casey Garrison with two hits and one RBI and senior Bryan Supnet also added two hits and a run.

The Gators got off to a good start winning the series opener 9-7 Friday afternoon at Maloney Field. It wasn’t easy though, as Cal State Monterrey Bay (13-30, 4-21 CCAA) came out swinging the sticks well behind Zaballos’ three-run homer off of starting pitcher Ben Horner. SF State came right back with five singles and four runs of their own in an impressive first inning.

The Otters took a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the seventh but were unable to preserve the lead as shortstop Derek Simper drilled a double down the leftfield line to get the Gators going. Simper however, was thrown out at home trying to score on a wild pitch but the Gators got singles from outfielders Phillip Girouard and Jason Dean giving them an 8-7 lead.

Closer Takane Suzuki came on in the ninth to pick up his sixth save of the season.

Senior shortstop Aaron Garcia, who was named the Wilson/California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Week for the week of April 17-23, went 3-for-5 in the game and extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

“We played pretty good this last week and the pitchers showed that they could pitch deeper into the game which gives us a better chance to win,” Garcia said.

The teams split Saturday’s doubleheader at Seaside, 10-7 and 11-1. In the first game, SF State fell behind early, again. But they climbed back into it riding the shoulders of junior first baseman Matt Kavanaugh, who hit a monster home run to lead off the sixth and finished the game with three hits, three runs, and one RBI. Seldom-used designated hitter Michael Solis came up big for the Gators with three hits and three RBIs in the come from behind win.

In the nightcap the Gators pitchers were rocked for 11 runs and 14 hits.

This series was a microcosm of the season for the Gators, according to coach Markovich.

“We just haven’t been able to stay consistent,” Markovich said. “Our offense is going to be inconsistent-that’s the nature of the beast, but we need our pitching and defense to stay consistent and it hasn’t been this season.”