LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Senior day at the Eagles Diamond proved to truly be a day belonging to the nine seniors on the Biola roster.

Senior Hawkins Gebbers finished his career in La Mirada with a 6-for-8 day with three doubles while fellow senior Chris Foreman went 4-for-8 as Biola swept a GSAC doubleheader from arch-rival and 12th-ranked Azusa Pacific by scores of 4-2 and 7-3 on Saturday afternoon at Eagles Diamond.

Both winning pitchers for the Eagles (32-20, 22-13 GSAC) also happened to be the lone two senior pitchers as Brian Albert gave his best performance of 2009 while Charlie Gausepohl dealt for 2.1 innings in relief to down the Cougars (31-16, 21-14 GSAC).

Freshman Vinnie Fayard also made huge contributions as he finished the day 4-for-7.

The Eagles did not waste much time taking it to the school rival. In the bottom of the third, Biola strung a pair of 2 out walks together in front of a Brent Chavez single into right center to break the scoreless tie, and plate Foreman.

The Eagles added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth thanks to poor Cougar defense. Gebbers doubled to start the inning followed by Billy Vopinek drawing his 30th walk of the season. Then, on a failed pick off attempt that saw Matt Stone's throw go into center field, Gebbers advanced to third. Brent Opdyke delivered a sacrifice fly for what would have been the second out of the inning, but a dropped fly ball not only scored Gebbers but moved Vopinek to third, however Opdyke was thrown out trying to advance to second.

The sloppy Azusa defense allowed the second run as well. Fayard reached on a bunt single, but in the attempt to throw him out, Ryan Dowell's throw sailed above his first basemen allowing Vopinek to score easily.

On the other side of the scorecard, Biola starter Albert delivered a gutsy performance, keeping Azusa Pacific scoreless through six and two thirds while navigating through four jams with at least one runner on.

Then with two outs in the seventh, Dowell singled to in front of Ryan Delgado who belted a two run homer over the fence in left center field to pull Azusa within one and chase Albert from the game.

Junior Adam McNaught then came in to face GSAC Player of the Week Brice Cutspec, inducing a fly out to end the inning.

That proved to be the momentum the Eagles would need. Foreman's lead off single forced Azusa head coach Paul Svagdis to go to his bullpen again. However, Biola put on a hit and run immediately and Nick Rotkowitz' single advanced Foreman from first to third. Chavez bounced a ball to short, forcing out Rotkowitz and second but beating the throw to first to get the RBI as Foreman scored.

The Cougars threatened in the eighth against Steven Alexander. Virgil Chavira and Drew Evans singled with one out to put runners on the corners. Then with two outs, Sammy Soyring drew a walk to load the bases and chase Alexander.

Vopinek came in and got Carlos Maddox to fly out to Chad Pace in left field to end the inning.

Vopinek slammed the door shut in the ninth, capping the game by striking out two of the Cougars bester hitters, Delgado and Cutspec, to earn his school record tying 16th save of the season.

Albert's performance continued to show his return to form from a year ago and was enough to earn his third victory in the last week to bump his record to 5-8. Stone was tagged with the loss to drop to 2-3.

Game 2 was just thirty minutes later, but had even more emotion as both teams were tied in conference after the result of game one.

After a scoreless first, Drew Evans belted a home run to give Azusa the early edge.

Biola came roaring back in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Fayard bounced a ball to third that appeared to be a routine groundout. But Dowell nonchalantly handled the ball, firing the throw to the first base screen to put Fayard on. Taylor Loop made him pay, lacing a single into left center and moving Fayard to third. Chad Pace one upped his fellow senior, hammering a ball to the wall to score Fayard and courtesy runner Phil Blazek. Foreman then sent Pace him with an RBI single to give Biola a 3-1 lead.

But Azusa would respond, Dowell was involved on another error, this time after Gebbers mishandled a hard hit groundball, putting Dowell on first. Delgado then roped a double to put runners on second and third. Cutspec followed with a sacrifice fly to score Dowell and pull the Cougars within one. Gillette then doubled home the courtesy runner Ring to pull the teams even at 3.

However, Biola would have none of it and pulled away in the bottom half of the inning. After Gebbers singled with one out, Vopinek hit a seed into left center field that appeared to be a single. The centerfielder Evans gave an excellent effort diving forward onto his stomach but could not make the catch and the ball rolled to wall, scoring Gebbers and giving Vopinek a triple.  Opdyke doubled home Vopinek and then Fayard doubled home Opdyke. Loop added a single to make it five straight hits in the inning, but the runs scored by Gebbers, Vopinek and Opdyke were all enough for the Eagles in the third.

The final insurance run came in the fourth as Rotkowitz and Chavez singled in front of the third Gebbers double on the day giving Biola a 7-3 lead.

The score stayed the same the rest of the game as Gausepohl bridged the game for 2.1 innings in relief from Nate Coronado to Alexander to finish his career at the Eagles Diamond with his 4th win of the season, improving to a perfect 4-0.

Alexander worked the final two innings, keeping APU scoreless to seal the deal.

The win also makes Biola 12-0 in games freshman Coronado starts. Still, Coronado was given his eighth no decision as his record stays at 4-0 in 2009.

The two wins give Biola a 3-1 series victory over APU and cement the Eagle's status above the Cougars in the conference standings.

Biola finishes the season in Fresno against the Sunbirds on Tuesday (Apr. 28), still battling The Master's College for the third spot in the standings. TMC split with GSAC champion Pt. Loma Nazarene on Saturday.