LA MIRADA, Calif. --- We move into week three of the 2019 softball season and the Biola Eagles are still searching to complete their first games of the year. This past Sunday's games against CSU San Marcos got rained out midway through game one, so the Eagles' season opener now shifts to Tuesday Feb. 12, 2019 at 4 p.m. with a home doubleheader against Hope International

THIS WEEK: vs. Hope International (5-0) - Tuesday February 12 at 4 p.m. & 6 p.m. (DH) and the NCAA Division II Cactus Classic in Tucson, Ariz.

2019 NCAA DIVISION II CACTUS CLASSIC (Tucson, Ariz.)
vs. Oklahoma Baptist (2-2) - Friday February 15 at 9 a.m. PT
vs. St. Mary's (Texas) (4-4) - Friday February 15 at 11:30 a.m. PT
vs. #21 Colorado Mesa (4-1) - Friday February 15 at 4:30 p.m. PT
vs. Simon Fraser (0-0) - Saturday February 16 at 9 a.m. PT
vs. Saint Martin's (Wash.) (2-1) - Saturday February 16 at 11:30 a.m. PT
vs. Fort Lewis (Colo.) (4-4) - Saturday February 16 at 2 p.m. PT

MULTIMEDIA: Live video and live stats will be provided free of charge for all Biola home contests. This week's Cactus Classic games will unfortunately not have any live statistics or video available. We will update as regularly as possible via our Twitter @BiolaAthletics.

TICKETS: Biola home events are always free to Biola students, staff, faculty and alumni. Children 12 and under are also always free. General admission is $6 and discounted tickets for opposing school students, guests under 18 and seniors are $4. See ticketing information for road contests below each preview below. Admission to the Cactus Classic games is either $7 per day or $30 for the whole tournament. Find more information on the Lincoln Park Homepage.

BIOLA (0-0) vs. HOPE INTERNATIONAL (5-0): Tuesday Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. (DH) \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
Biola and Hope International are old rivals, dating back to the teams' time together in the Golden State Athletic Conference up until the start of last season. The Royals won the GSAC title last year with a 47-11 overall record and 14-6 conference mark. HIU made it to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time and begins this year ranked No. 9 in the NAIA. Head Coach Dennis Blas has made a huge impact in his three years as steward of the program. He took over a team that went 9-48 (1-23 GSAC) in 2015 and turned them into a 40-win program three years later. This year's team is averaging an incredible 8.8 runs-per-game and allowing opponents just 1.6 runs-per-game. They allowed a season-high four in their last contest, a 7-4 win over No. 16 Corban. The Royals are led on offense by Jaime Ponce and Drew Moore. Both are hitting over .600 to start the season and have combined for eight RBI in the early going. HIU is hitting an incredible .386 as a team. Taylor Pierce has been the team's leader in the circle, compiling a team-high 12 innings of work and getting two wins with a 0.00 ERA. She's struck out 12 and allowed just eight hits so far this year. The Royals come in with a team ERA of 0.54 with one shutout and two one-run performances. The Eagles and Royals have met 100 times in the past, with Biola dominating the all-time series with a 66-34 advantage. HIU won the last meeting between the two sides split an early-season doubleheader last year. Paige Austin earned a win and Ruth Munoz scored twice in the Eagles' 5-4 win over HIU last year.

BIOLA (0-0) vs. OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (2-2): Friday February 15 at 9 a.m. PT \\ No Live Coverage
This will be the third all-time meeting between Biola and OBU. The Eagles and Bison last met in a doubleheader at Freedom Field in March 2001. Biola took the first game 4-0 and lost the second 2-1. That was part of a 50-13 season for BU under then-head coach Mike Smith. The 50 wins is still a program record for Biola and could stand forever with a shorter season-length in NCAA Division II. Smith coached Biola from 1999-02 and is now the head coach at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. OBU is currently 2-2 on the season and is coming off a 16-31 record in 2018. Like Biola, the Bison are in their first season under a new head coach, Sam Maples. OBU has been a tough team to figure out so far this season, scoring eight runs in their two wins and one run or fewer in their two losses. Demi Dobbs seems to be the most dangerous hitter in the OBU lineup. She's hitting just over .200 with just three hits so far this year, but two of her three hits have left the yard. The team's hits leader is Franki Hull, who averages two hits a game so far and has an average over .600 but zero RBI.

BIOLA (0-0) vs. ST. MARY'S (TEXAS) (4-4): Friday February 15 at 11:30 a.m. PT \\ No Live Coverage
Biola and St. Mary's have never met before in softball. The Rattlers hosted a tournament last week and have won three of their last four contests after beginning the year 1-3. Their last two wins have been big ones, 8-0 over Colorado School of Mines, and 6-1 over Regis (Colo.). The Rattlers went 34-23 last season and were 19-9 in the Heartland Conference. They won the regular season conference title for a fourth-straight season and advanced to the conference tournament semifinals. They were picked to win the conference title for a fifth-straight year in the HC preseason poll. Rattlers' head coach Donna Fields has been in place since 1998 and has 908 all-time wins at the helm of St. Mary's, including leading the team to the 2002 NCAA Division II national title.

BIOLA (0-0) vs. #21 COLORADO MESA (4-1): Friday February 15 at 4:30 p.m. PT \\ No Live Coverage
This is the first all-time meeting between Biola and Colorado Mesa and the first time in the NCAA Division II era that the Eagles will face a ranked opponent outside of PacWest Conference play. The Mavericks are coming off a 48-5 season that featured an RMAC championship, RMAC tournament championship and three games at the NCAA Division II National Championship. CMU has won 40+ games each of the last three seasons and 73-10 in conference games over that span. The Mavericks are also under a first-year head coach, Erik Kozel. Things should continue seamlessly for the Mavericks as Kozel spent the last six years as an assistant on staff. He served in that capacity under Ben Garcia, who this year took a NCAA Division I coaching job at the University of Northern Colorado. All five of the Mavericks games this season came at the Dixie State Courtyard Classic, hosted by the Eagles' former conference foes, the Trailblazers. CMU began with four wins in a row before Hawaii Hilo beat them 4-3 in extra innings the last time out. That loss is the only game this season where Colorado Mesa has scored fewer than six runs. They average 7.8 runs-per-game in the early going this season.

BIOLA (0-0) vs. SIMON FRASER (0-0): Saturday February 16 at 9 a.m. PT \\ No Live Coverage
This is the third all-time meeting between Biola and Simon Fraser. The two other times they've met have also been in single games like this go-around. The first was a 7-5 loss back in the 2007 season and the second came at home last year when Biola lost 8-7 in heartbreaking fashion after the Clan scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to hand Biola its first loss of the 2018 season. SFU went on to go 21-19 last season and were 15-13 in GNAC play. Strangely enough SFU is also under a first-year head coach, Michelle Peters. Peters takes over for 24-year head coach Mike Renney. Neither of the pitchers Biola faced in last year's game is back on the roster this season.

BIOLA (0-0) vs. SAINT MARTIN'S (WASH.) (2-1): Saturday February 16 at 11:30 a.m. PT \\ No Live Coverage
Saint Martin's began its season at the prestigious Desert Stinger tournament in Las Vegas where two of its five games were rained out. The Saints went 2-0 on the opening day of their season, had the next day washed out and then completed their run at the tournament with a 7-5 loss to CSU Dominguez Hills. The Saints' most interesting game of the year was their second contest, when they won 11-10 over a Colorado Christian team that had outscored them 8-0 over the first three innings. The Saints hit four homeruns in that game, including a pair from first baseman Kylie Lopez. Lopez appeared in 35 games in 2018 with zero homeruns. So far this year she's hitting .300 with seven RBI and a pair of runs scored. She's one of two SMU players with seven RBI this season. The other is senior infielder Sabrina Hicks, who also has two homers and leads the team hitting .636 (7-for-11). Biola and Saint Martin's have never faced each other.  

BIOLA (0-0) vs. FORT LEWIS (COLO.) (4-4): Saturday February 16 at 2 p.m. PT \\ No Live Coverage
The Dixie State Courtyard Classic did not go so hot for these Fort Lewis Skyhawks. After beginning the season 3-0 the Skyhawks lost the first four of their five games in St. George to drop to 4-4 on the year. Their last outing was a big win in that it broke the losing streak, but also in that it was a 12-run effort for the Skyhawks (12-5). Fort Lewis went 16-38 last season and has not had a winning season since 2012 (30-26). Biola has never faced Fort Lewis, but they do have one shared opponent among FLC's early 2019 opponents. Fort Lewis lost to Hawaii Pacific, 6-3, in the opener of their tournament in Utah. HPU scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the win. Biola went 2-0 against the Sharks last year, winning 4-0 and 5-1 in Hawaii. The player to watch on the Skyhawks' bench is senior utility player Angelique Elemen. She came into this year with a .383 career batting average and double-digit homerun totals in each of her first three years. She's off to a torrid start to 2019, hitting .462 in eight starts with five big flies and three doubles, both team highs. In the circle, the Skyhawks have been relying heavily on sophomore transfer Emily Morris. Last season, Morris was 10-8 with a 2.15 ERA in over 100 innings at Middlebury (Vt.). She leads FLC with 20.2 innings pitched so far this year.

SECOND TO ONE: Biola Softball was selected to finish second in the recent PacWest Coaches Preseason Poll. It is four spots higher than the Eagles were picked in last year's preseason poll and five spots higher than Biola's actual finish in the conference standings last year. Biola began 2018 with a 10-2 record in PacWest play, garnering the respect of just about everyone and holding on to the top spot in the league for a long time. A tough end of the season sunk the team down to seventh, which will likely not be replicated this season. The Eagles were one of three teams to earn at least one first-place vote in the preseason poll. Concordia Irvine led the poll with seven first-place votes, but the Eagles from Irvine only had seven total points more than BU (89-92). Conference play begins with Biola vs. CUI at Concordia on Feb. 22. That doubleheader will be meetings 96 and 97 all-time between BU and CUI. Concordia has won the last four head-to-head matchups.

EARLY HONORS: Biola had more individual players honored with Preseason All-PacWest honors than any other team in the conference. Four members of Udria's squad made it onto the 13-person team of standouts. Kayla Neff was selected the conference's best catcher. Hailey Boyett was selected the league's best designated player and Areana Ramos and Paige Austin were listed among outfielders and pitchers to make the cut. Ramos was last year's newcomer of the year and could be in contention for player of the year if she repeats or improves her 2018 numbers. Austin was part of a trio of outstanding freshman pitchers to earn all-conference honors last season. One of those three left to a CCAA school, so it's likely Austin will battle CUI's Callie Nunes for the conference pitcher of the year award this season if she's close to or better than her numbers from a year ago. Azusa Pacific had three preseason all-conference winners and CUI had two, making them the only other institutions with multiple winners. Fittingly, those are also the top-3 programs in the preseason poll.

RECORD WATCH: Last season, Areana Ramos hit nine homeruns which was more than double her previous single-season best. It was just two homeruns shy of the program's single-season homerun record held by Lyndsie Roberts (2011). If she gets the big fly working early on this year, look for her to be able to make a push for that mark. Her 15 career homeruns is 11 behind the program record of 26. So, if it happens, her 12th homerun would break both the single-season and career mark. The PacWest had three players with at least 12 homeruns last season. Ramos is also in the top-5 in career slugging percentage. She's had 38 extra-base hits in her career and enters the year with a .549 slugging percentage. The program record is Amerra Kesterson's (.631). Kesterson played for BU from 2004-07. Paige Austin held opponents to just a .196 batting average last season. It's just the third time in program history a pitcher has held batters to a mark under .200. No Biola pitcher has ever had two such seasons. Austin has a chance at being the first to accomplish that this year. Andi Hormel spent a lot of time icing her first two seasons at BU. She was hit by 23 pitches during her freshman and sophomore campaigns. That mark slowed a bit with just three HBP last year. But, if she finds her way on base via plunking at least four times this season, she'd become the third player in program history with 30+ hit-by-pitch bases. Kayla Neff comes into the year just two sacrifice flies shy of the all-time record of nine. She had five SF last year and should be able to pass record-holder Selina Sherlin (9) this year.

UPCOMING MILESTONES:
Hailey Boyett - 150 Games Played (109)
Hailey Boyett - 100 Hits (75)
Hailey Boyett - 300 Putouts (247)
Hailey Boyett - 50 RBI (49)
Andi Hormel - 150 Games Played (146)
Andi Hormel - 100 Hits (96)
Andi Hormel - 300 Assists (261)
Kayla Neff - 100 Hits (84)
Kayla Neff - 500 Putouts (419)
Kayla Neff - 50 RBI (47)
Missy Poti - 300 Putouts (264)
Areana Ramos - 150 Games Played (135)
Areana Ramos - 100 Runs Scored (71)
Areana Ramos - 150 Hits (119)
Areana Ramos - 30 Doubles (21)
Areana Ramos - 20 Homeruns (15)
Areana Ramos - 200 Putouts (148)
Areana Ramos - 30 Outfield Assists (26)

A GOOD MIX: Biola returns a large chunk of its 2018 roster, but also brings in a good amount of new talent with its 2019 newcomers. The Eagles' 19-person roster is made up of 13 returning players and six newcomers. Of those 13 returners, three earned all-conference honors last season and seven started for BIola on a regular basis. Paige Austin returns to lead an expanded Biola pitching staff that includes veterans Paula Damas and Kaile Chavez as well as promising newcomer Jennifer Morinishi. Udria has been impressed by the growth she's seen in Damas this offseason, which gives her plenty of solid options in the circle for 2019. The offense will be in capable hands with Ramos, Kayla Neff and Hailey Boyett leading the way as big bashers. Expect a big senior season from four-year shortstop Andi Hormel and keep an eye on Morinishi and Sicili Brittingham to bring some boppage as freshmen. Selina Sherlin is noticeably missing, but the two newcomers, coupled with growth from Ruth Munoz and Kylie Velasco should fill the gap as best as possible. Missy Poti is also ready to return healthy and make an impact in the corner infield.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Biola has a brand new coaching staff this season as Head Coach Nikki Udria begins her first season at the helm for BU. Along with Udria is assistant Justine McLean. Though young, the staff has a wealth of big-time experience as Udria and McLean have NCAA Division I roots (Oregon/Florida). Udria was on the staff last year as an assistant coach under Lorie Coleman, taking over for Janie Takeda who took a job at the University of Oklahoma. Udria played four years at the University of Oregon before graduating in 2017. She led the Ducks to four postseason appearances and three Pac-12 Championships while earning major accolades all four years of her career. In 2017 she was an NFCA NCAA Division I First Team All-American. McLean is from Rancho Cucamonga, but she played her college ball for the Florida Gators the same time Udria was at Oregon. McLean earned All-SEC honors and made the Women's College World Series all-tournament team, while helping the Gators to a 229-36 overall record between 2014-17. The Gators won the Women's College World Series her freshman and sophomore seasons. In addition to their regular coaching duties, both regularly host camps/clinics throughout the year. View those at this camp link.

NEXT WEEK: at Concordia Irvine (2-1) - Friday Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.; vs. Adelphi (N.Y.) (0-0) - Saturday Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.