LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The Eagles dropped the first two games of their Golden State Athletic Conference schedule on Friday despite gutsy performances from both oof their starting pitchers. Early offense in both games from the Menlo Oaks combines with strike-throwers on the rubber netted the away team 5-2 and 5-3 victories.

The Eagles are still well-above .500 at 6-3 while Menlo jumps to first place in the GSAC at 2-0 and 8-1 overall. The Oaks take an eight game winning streak into the single games these two teams will play Saturday.

Even with an 8:00 a.m. start time, runs started to roll in early in game one. All nine of the Oaks hitters came to play in the first inning, as three hits and two free passes led to three runs. It could have been much more with the Oaks first three batters getting aboard to load the bases. But the pressure only prompted starting pitcher Jimmy Gallarda to dig a little deeper and prevent the Oaks from hitting the ball out of the infield for the final four at-bats of the inning.

From the second inning on, the Oaks only beat Gallarda on one pitch: centerfielder Jordan Getzelman pulled his hands in on an inside fast ball in the third for a solo homerun. Outside of that third inning, Gallarda never allowed another Oak runner to advance past first base.

He would finish with season-highs in strikeouts (seven) and induced sing-and-misses (14) over seven innings in another quality start.

Biola would collect three doubles in game one against starter Jason Alexander and score a run in each of the first two innings. But it could not come back to tie the score because it was difficult to create momentum at the plate.

The Eagles would not produce more than one hit in an inning until the bottom of the fourth in game two and were prevented from cashing in on their best late-inning scoring opportunity in the seventh when reliever Kevin George stranded Jerron Largusa at third.

Alexander's line would end after 6.1 innings and two runs with eight strikeouts after George took care of the runners he inherited. Then the Oaks reliever finished off his first save of the year by retiring the last eight Eagles he faced in order.

Micah Beyer faced a first-inning jam of his own in game two with Oaks at second and third with nobody out. Like Gallarda, the junior starter buckled down to prevent Menlo from getting another hit in the first. But the Oaks made the most of the early opportunity to scratch together two runs on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.

Beyer collected seven strikeouts against a team that hit 13 homeruns and averaged more than 10 runs per game before Friday. But the Oaks did not let Beyer exit before a Dean Aliamus two-run homerun in the second and a Nick Quejado RBI single in the fifth.

The Eagles mounted a response with starter Brett Solano tiring in the sixth inning. A chopper down the first-base line from Jonas Wellan turned into a two-run triple after it careened off the bag. Following walks from Largusa and pinch-hitter Colton Worthington to load the bases, reliever Cruz Daddario stranded all three runners by getting the final out of the sixth on the way to another save for the Oaks.

Eagles' fireman Buddy Brouwer posted a clean frame in the seventh with two strikeouts, but Daddario retired the side in order in the final frame of the shortened second game to give Menlo another win.

These two teams will be back at it tomorrow with a projected start time of 11:00 a.m. Due to inclement weather, check athletics.biola.edu for possible start time changes.