LA MIRADA, Calif. --- After posting a winning conference record in their first season as a PacWest member, the Biola Eagles were picked fourth in the Preseason Poll released by the PacWest conference office and eighth in the NCBWA West Regional Poll.

The PacWest ranking completed by the conference coaches gave the Eagles 52 points, just four fewer than third-ranked Concordia, and projected them to finish ahead of five other teams: Academy of Art, Fresno Pacific, Hawaii Pacific, Hawaii Hilo and Holy Names. Azusa Pacific and Point Loma earned the one and two places, respectively, in the poll after each team appeared in the 2018 NCAA West Regional.

Biola received 19 points in the West Region Poll and appeared alongside APU, which was ranked second with 62 points, and Point Loma, ranked fourth with 45 points.

With the departure of California Baptist and Dixie State from the PacWest after the end of the 2018 season, Biola returns to the diamond in 2019 as the only conference team besides APU and Point Loma to win over 30 games. The Eagles played their way to the NCCAA World Series semifinals last year with and had six student-athletes earn All-PacWest recognition.

Two of Biola's leading hitters, Ryan Gallegos and Jerron Largusa, followed their All-PacWest selections with appearances on this year's Preseason All-PacWest and All-West Region teams. Gallegos was tabbed as the conference and West Region's best DH coming into the year after smashing his way through PacWest play at that position in 2018. He became the third player in the PacWest, and the first freshman, to accumulate 50 RBI's, tied for the team-lead in home runs with 10 and was in the top-10 hitters in the conference for five major offensive categories.

Largusa became one of three outfielders on the preseason team after leading Biola in batting average and on-base percentage in 2018 and took second team honors on the All-West Region team. He hit .364 his junior year with 22 extra-base hits and 12 stolen bases and was the only junior or senior outfielder to earn All-PacWest recognition at the end of last season.

"We know that the PacWest has a lot of great hitters and we're excited to have some of our guys recognized to begin the year," said Head Coach Justin Duarte. "Ryan and Jerron work hard and do a lot to help our team and we're hoping a number of other guys are recognized this season."

The Eagles will begin their PacWest schedule in much the same way as they did last year, traveling to Hawaii at the end of February to play Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii Hilo. The Eagles will not play the Sharks in games that count toward PacWest record until April 18-20 at Eagles Diamond but having four games to get accustomed to the playing conditions in Hawaii will be very helpful to Duarte's group before starting the conference schedule in earnest on Feb. 28.

March contains Biola's toughest road series with matchups against Point Loma and Azusa Pacific two weeks apart. The Eagles will play doubleheaders against APU on Friday March 29 and Saturday March 30 to decide this year's Cornerstone Cup rivalry between the two teams. Ten points would go to the team that wins three out of the four games in the series and five points would be awarded to each school if the series was split 2-2.

After facing Azusa Pacific, the Eagles will start April with back-to-back-to-back PacWest series at home over the first three weeks of the month. They'll conclude their PacWest schedule April 26 and 27 at Concordia while the rest of the conference wraps up their PacWest games through May 9.

Biola's first pitch of the 2019 season will be at Cal State LA (ranked 10th in the preseason region poll) at 6 p.m. on Monday Feb. 4. Then the Eagles will play their home opener two days later when Hope International comes to La Mirada for a 2 p.m. start.