LA VERNE, Calif. --- Biola thought its first home run was so grand that it decided to do it again.

Juniors Billy Vopinek and Steven Alexander both belted grand slams in the Eagles' 16-10 victory over the University of La Verne (20-13) on Tuesday afternoon at Ben Hines Field.

Vopinek and Alexander have both been fantastic for Biola (30-19) out of the bullpen, combining for eighteen saves on the season. Yet, Tuesday they combined for 10 RBI.

The two grand slams were the third and fourth Biola salami's of the season as senior Hawkins Gebbers hit the first in a home game against Bethany University while Brent Chavez hit one on the road against California Baptist.

Junior Derek Dietzen went 5-2/3 innings to earn the victory and improve to 2-0 on the season while Mark Larini was hung with the loss for the Leopards.

Biola got on the board in the second when Gebbers reached on a dropped fly ball and advanced to second on the play. With one out, Brent Opdyke walked before Vinnie Fayard singled home Gebbers. Vopinek then crushed a bases clearing triple to put the Eagles up three. Chad Pace capped the early scoring with a single to drive Vopinek home.

La Verne struck for a run against Dietzen in the bottom of the inning on a Mike Surina solo home run.

Chavez and Gebbers both singled to start the Biola half of the third inning before Taylor Loop reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with one out. Opdyke followed that up by reaching on an error which scored Chavez as Biola pushed the lead back to four. Fayard then doubled home Loop to make it 6-1.

La Verne got one run back in the fourth as Donavan Petta grounded out with the bases loaded.

But the Eagles struck for four more run in the fifth, all after two were out. Loop got the ball rolling with a two-our single, followed by a walk to Opdyke. Fayard was then hit by a pitch which loaded the bases for Vopinek. The junior, who has been red-hot as of late, broke the game open by belting a grand slam, giving himself the two hardest legs of the cycle: the triple and the home run.

The Leopards grabbed one run in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Mike Moretti tripled home the fifth inning run and Kevin Ibarra singled home Surina in the sixth.

La Verne pulled closer in the seventh as Jon Hattabaugh reached on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded to score one. Surina singled home another run one batter later before Petta's bunt plated Hattabaugh.

But the Eagles came right back putting up six runs in the eighth. Fayard and Vopinek singled to start the inning with both scoring on a Pace two run double. Chris Foreman walked and Nick Rotkowitz reached on an error to load the bases. Alexander then pinch hit and gave La Verne déjà vu as he blasted the second grand slam of the game to give Biola a nine run lead.

The Leopards comeback only made it a third of the way as La Verne picked up three runs on a home run by Petta.

The four remaining contests will make a dramatic difference in the Eagle's playoff seed. Two come against the 14th-ranked Sunbirds with the other two against archrival Azusa Pacific, which is ranked 12th in the NAIA.

Azusa Pacific and Fresno Pacific are tied for second in the GSAC while The Master's College and Biola are tied for fourth with just a game separating all four teams.

The first of the big four games comes Thursday (Apr. 23) as the Eagles head north to Fresno for the first of an odd-two game series. The second game closes out the season and will be again in Fresno on Tuesday, April 28.