ST THOMAS BOX SCORE | AVILA BOX SCORE

ORANGE, Calif. — Sarah Jensen went 5-for-6 with four RBIs to lead Biola to a pair of wins at the SunWest Tournament on Friday, beating No. 4-ranked St. Thomas (Minn.) 2-1 in the first game and coming back twice to beat Avila (Mo.) 9-5 in the nightcap.

The Eagles improve to 12-14 on the season with the wins. St. Thomas, which entered the day ranked No. 4 in the NCAA Division III rankings, drops to 13-2 while Avila falls to 15-6 overall.

Biola picked up a huge win in the first game, defeating St. Thomas which had beat GSAC rivals Pt. Loma Nazarene and Azusa Pacific earlier in the week.

The Eagles received another strong start from freshman pitcher Lyndsie Roberts, who allowed just one run on four hits while striking out five to improve to 6-2 on the season. She did not allow a run until a solo home run by Colleen Owen with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Jensen gave Biola all of the offense it would need in the game, teaming with freshman Lauren Gandy for the Eagles' two runs. In the second and the fifth innings, Jensen drove home Gandy with two-out doubles.

In the second game, Biola fell behind early as Avila scored an unearned run in the first and got a run on three hits in the second. However, the Eagles came right back with a four-run bottom of the third inning.

With one out, Gandy smashed a single up the middle, followed by a single to left by Sarah Smith. Jensen then continued her hot hitting with another double to drive home the two. Jacqie Hudson then drove home Jensen with a single up the middle to make it 4-2 Biola.

Avila took the lead back with a bang in the top of the fifth as Abbey Ann Grier blasted a three-run home run to left centerfield to put the team up 5-4.

Again, though, the Eagles would respond quickly to take back the lead, scoring three of their own in the bottom of the frame. Smith and Jensen opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Two batters later, Krista Johnson scored the pair with a single to right to put the Eagles back on top. Morgan Facchini would drive home Johnson later in the inning with a one-out single to left to cap the scoring.

Biola would add a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth as Jensen reached on a one-out single, then scored on a triple by Hudson. Johnson then drove home Hudson on an RBI-groundout to cap the scoring for the Eagles.

Emily Gray earned the win to improve to 4-5 on the season. Moyer closed out the game to earn the first save of the year for the Eagles, allowing just one batter to reach over the final two innings.

In addition to the great day by Jensen, a couple of other Biola players had strong days. Hudson went 4-for-7 with a triple and two RBIs while Gandy was 2-for-3 with a walk, two stolen bases, and three runs scored.

Biola heads out to Arizona for four games at the Tucson Invitational on Tuesday and Wednesday (Mar. 25-26).