IRVINE, Calif. - With a big sixth inning, the Eagles came from behind to win game two of the NCAA Regional Tournament, beating the San Francisco State Gators, 5-3.

Trailing 2-1 entering the sixth, the Eagles put together a two out rally to take the lead and ultimately win the game.  After a walk by Amanda Gjertsen, Michelle Lieng hit her third home run of the season, putting the Eagles up 3-2, and sending her teammates into euphoric celebration. 

VIDEO: CUI's Lieng crushes clutch 2-run homer to help CUI advance to DII West Regional Championship Game

Following the go-ahead homer, Sarah Kretschmar collected her second hit of the day on a bunt single, stole second, and then came around on McKinsey Thorpe's RBI double to make it 4-2 CUI.  Lauren Lopez continued the rally by knocking in Thorpe with a double of her own to give the Eagles a 5-2 lead.  For the Eagles, the bottom four batters in their lineup did most of the damage.  Lieng, Kretschmar, Thorpe, and Lopez combined to go 7-for-12 at the plate, driving in five and scoring three.

The Gators struck back for a run in the top of the seventh on a solo homer but Callie Nunes was able to navigate through the rest of the inning and finished the game with a strikeout to seal the deal.  CUI won its second consecutive game, avoiding the grueling route that is required in coming through the loser's side of the bracket. 

Nunes improved to 32-4 with the win and leads NCAA DII with 32 victories this season.  She gave up just three hits and walked two in the victory. 

She was aided by some fantastic defense behind her for the second straight day.  Lieng came up with a diving catch near the left field line and PacWest Conference Defensive Player of the Year Mackenzie Graham also threw out a potential base-stealer to eliminate another scoring chance for the Gators.

CUI returns to the field on Saturday morning and will look to clinch a spot in the Super Regionals for the first time since joining Division II.  The top-seeded Eagles will face No. 5 seed Western Oregon at 11 a.m. on Saturday and if an additional game is necessary, it will be played at 1:30 p.m.  Western Oregon eliminated both Concordia (Ore.) and San Francisco State on Friday with a pair of 1-0 victories. The Wolves will have to win twice on Saturday to advance.

To watch the action on Saturday through our live video stream, click here.

For all tournament information, be sure to visit our NCAA DII West Regional Tournament Central home page for updates, box scores, and postgame interviews.