Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FULLERTON, Calif. --- The Eagles' regular-season ending series with Hope International definitely did not follow along the season script as Biola and the Royals split the two-game set in Fullerton on Tuesday.
 
The Eagles held Hope International to just one run in their doubleheader the last time these two teams met, and was expecting to do much of the same today, but it simply did not work out that way as Biola won the opener 4-3 and lost the night game 2-1 to the unranked, out of contention Royals team.
 
Instead of walking out of the series with their 33^rd win of the season and a solid grasp on second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference, the Eagles had to rely on No. 1 Concordia to sweep San Diego Christian to ensure Biola's spot as the No. 2 seed headed into the GSAC tournament.
 
Biola's problem today was that it left its bats at home in the key run-scoring situations. The Eagles put together 12 hits on the afternoon off of the three Royals pitchers, but could only scrape one run across the plate in their second game loss, and only four came across in their extra-innings win in game one.
 
Biola came within one out of getting swept by the Royals. HIU had a 3-2 lead headed into the seventh inning in the first contest, and Biola was struggling to move runners forward all game long against Liz Gonzalez. Bria Madrid led off Biola's final chance with a double, which was followed by a flyout and groundout that left Madrid on third base and the Eagles with their final out.
 
A Reba DePriest walk was followed by a run-scoring single off the bat of Brooke Madrid and eventually the Eagles won in the eighth inning off a Heather Hall triple, her first of the season.
 
After allowing three runs in the first inning of the opener, CeCe Luster found herself in trouble again in the late game, as she allowed two runs to the Royals in the second inning. She was pulled and DePriest came in and shutdown the HIU bats, but Biola could not get more than one sixth-inning score and dropped the nightcap.
 
The loss give Biola at least one loss in three of their last five series. This comes after a stretch that saw them go nearly a month without losing a single game.
 
In the end, the team still finished the regular season with a superb record of 32-10 (13-7 GSAC) and holds the No. 2 spot headed in the GSAC Tournament that kicks off April 24. Biola earned a bye for the first round of play, and it will play the winner of a game between San Diego Christian and Arizona Christian April 25^th at 9:30 a.m.
 
The games will be played at Concordia between April 24-26. The Eagles have a 4-0 record against ACU this season and a 3-1 mark against the Hawks.