LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Although the rain was able to push the season opener back a day, the Biola Eagles finally get to kick off their second NCAA season this week with two non-conference games. Biola's first game of the season was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday at Cal State LA but rain in the area over the weekend forced the Golden Eagles to push the game back one day because of the field conditions. That shouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of the season for Head Coach Justin Duarte, since his best move this early in the season is to approach games with a bit of a "spring training" mentality and rotate players through the lineup so their play can decide the starting spots that are up for grabs.

At the plate the Eagles will be looking to a few hitters that will provide the production lost with the departure of River Fawley and Colton Worthington and with the injury of Jacob Portaro to start the season. Biola will give two key transfers in RobertAnthony Cruz and RJ Bates the opportunity to cement themselves in the order from the get-go and are very optimistic about elevated production from players like Brandon Cody and Connor Kostecka.

Those players will fill in around the anchors of the Eagles lineup to start the 2019 season: Ryan Gallegos, Jerron Largusa and Joey Magro. Largusa and Magro both come into their senior seasons as players who have been relied on for their bats over the past three seasons and will be looked to for their leadership along with the others seniors in getting the Eagles back to NCCAA playoffs. Magro scored 36 runs a year ago and collected 34 walks in addition to 10 extra-base hits as a second baseman while Largusa earned Preseason All-PacWest and All-West Region honors after finishing as Biola's team leader in batting average and on-base percentage.

Gallegos starts the season as Biola's biggest threat to leave the yard after hitting 10 round-trippers and driving in over 50 RBI's in 2018. He was named Preseason All-PacWest and First Team Preseason All-American at DH by the National College Baseball Writers Association, making him the only player in the entire NCAA DII West Region to earn First Team recognition.

The Eagles also figure to have a lot of new faces on the mound with the graduation on Micah Beyer, Daniel Jang and a number of other arms. Freshmen Brayden Englert and Larson Kindreich along with transfers Kenny Carillo and Chris Despars figure to fold into a stable that has a number of pitchers who delivered in big spots for the Eagles in 2018. Troy Stainbrook was one of those guys who delivered last year and figures to get the ball on Tuesday to start things off. But how long he'll go and where he'll fit in, along with the likes of Honus Kindreich, Joey Levitt, Josh Ludeman and Anthony Villegas, once the conference schedule starts is up in the air.

THIS WEEK: at CAL STATE LA, Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.; vs HOPE INTERNATIONAL, Wednesday at 2 p.m.

MULTIMEDIA: Live video and live stats will be provided free of charge for all Biola home contests. See links and cost for road contests in the previews below.

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.

BIOLA (0-0) at CAL STATE LA (0-0): Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 3:30 p.m. \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
The Eagles revisit old rivalry with Cal State LA that started in 1969 with a single non-conference game at Reeder Field this week. Biola is 9-12 against the Golden Eagles all-time and last faced them in February of 2012, when CSULA went 26-22. Cal State LA put together a 28-24 record last year and was ranked No. 10 in the preseason West Region poll released last week after being picked to finish fifth in the CCAA. The Golden Eagles' roster will be looking to reload its lineup after losing its top four power hitters from a year ago but they do return a promising switch-hitting catcher in Spencer Sundahl who hit five home runs over the final 19 games of his 2018 campaign and five other regulars from their lineup. A large part of Cal State LA's bullpen stays in tact coming into 2019 and a member of their rotation in Saxon Andross. Andross may get the opening day start due to his team's familiarity with him and figures to paint the corners and use his control to get batters out. His best outings in 2018 all came when he allowed one walk or fewer.

BIOLA (0-0) vs HOPE INTERNATIONAL (5-0) : Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m. \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
Old conference foe Hope International had a strong start to their non-conference schedule with five-straight wins and now takes on a few road tests this week to prepare for the start of its GSAC schedule on February 16. The Royals have scored in the first three innings of all five games they've played so far this season and they've hit homeruns in the last four contests. But they also tend to strikeout a lot at the plate, averaging almost nine k's per contest coming into this week. Hope International takes on Chapman on Tuesday afternoon before driving to La Mirada on Wednesday. Then they'll head to Cal Poly Pomona to finish the week with three more road games. After getting seven shutout innings out from Justin Freedman in the first game of the season, Head Coach Eric Pfohl has been content to limit his starters to about three or four innings and work his bullpen. But those arms have already given up nine runs this season in the seventh inning or later so it will be interesting to see how the Eagles' bats respond to seeing multiple pitchers on Wednesday.