Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ATHERTON, Calif. --- Biola opened the season by splitting a doubleheader, beating Menlo College 7-6 in a nine-inning thriller after falling 4-2 in the first game on Wednesday afternoon in Atherton.

The Eagles finish the day at 1-1 while the Oaks move to 4-2 on the season.

The Biola bats struggled to get going in the first game but exploded in the second game, tallying seven runs including five in extra innings.

Menlo got on the board first in both games including scoring twice in the top of the first of game two. Biola answered back with a two-spot in the fourth inning as freshman Bria Madrid belted a two-run home run to tie the game.

The game would stay knotted at two through the seventh, forcing extra innings in just the second game of the year. But Biola would not keep it knotted for long, as Bria Madrid drove home a run on a sacrifice bunt. The Eagles took advantage of three walks and an RBI groundout to tally four runs in the inning to go up 6-2.

Menlo answered back, though, and matched that number in the bottom of the inning with a two-run double, a triple and an RBI groundout.

But Biola was able to muster another run in the ninth inning on a CeCe Luster sacrifice fly and held the Oaks off the board in the bottom of the frame to pull out the 7-6 win.

In the first game, Menlo got on the board in the first inning with an RBI-single to make it 1-0. The Oaks tacked on three more in the fifth inning, scoring all three runs with two outs to take a 4-0 lead.

Biola got things going in the sixth inning as Keri Corey led off the frame with a single. After moving to second on a groundout, Bria Madrid singled to center to put runners on the corners. Luster then singled to left to bring home a run and Heather Hall drove home another with a ground out. But the Eagles could not push across another run, falling 4-2.

Luster took the loss as the starter in the first game while Hall picked up the win in relief in game two.

Luster paced the offense by going 4-for-6 on the day, driving home two runs and scoring two more. The Madrid sisters combined for four hits as well with Bria going 2-for-5 with the home run, three RBIs and two runs scored.

Biola plays a doubleheader on Thursday at William Jessup University in Rocklin before heading to Redding to play six games in two days as part of the Simpson University Invitational.