LA MIRADA, Calif. --- It's rivalry week on campus as Biola hosts Cornerstone Cup matchups against Azusa Pacific Saturday night. Chick-Fil-A at the La Habra Marketplace is in town to give away free sandwiches and there will also be a promo giveaway sponsored by Biola SGA.

THIS WEEK: vs Azusa Pacific (17-13, 10-7 PacWest) - Saturday April 6 at 4pm and 6pm

MULTIMEDIA: Live video and live stats will be provided free of charge for all Biola home contests. Information on live video and live stats made available for road games will be listed along with the previews of those games 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.

ABOUT LAST WEEK: Biola had its first four-game sweep of the season and won its third-consecutive PacWest Conference series when it hosted the Chaminade Silverswords. The Eagles outscored Chaminade 29-8 in the four-game set and hit .455 as a team. Four different Eagles had six or more hits with Hailey Boyett and Kayla Neff each having nine a piece. Biola had 12 extra-base hits in the series but only one homerun. Jennifer Morinishi led the effort in the circle, going 2-0 without surrendering a single earned run in her 9.1 innings of work. She held opponents to .229 average. Biola's staff held Chaminade to a .250 average for the week, pitching without Paige Austin who was out with illness. The Eagles are now 13-3 in their last 16 contests. They have APU coming up this week and then a eight-game road set against a pair of NorCal teams with a combined 7-44 overall record and 4-32 PacWest record. As a result of her performance last week Morinishi was honored as the PacWest Conference Freshman of the Week. She did a lot in the circle and contributed in limited time on offense - walking and scoring a run.

BIOLA (16-10, 11-5 PacWest) vs AZUSA PACIFIC (17-13, 10-7 PacWest): Saturday April 6 at 4 p.m. (DH) \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video \\ Promotion: Free Chick-Fil-A & Biola Sunglasses
This weekend a rivalry is renewed as Biola and Azusa Pacific go toe-to-toe for the first time this season. The Eagles and Cougars play home and home doubleheaders to make up their four-game season series, beginning Saturday at Freedom Field. The two sides meet this week and then once more on May 2 to polish off the regular season slate. Azusa Pacific took three of four from Biola last season, spurred on by holding the Eagles to just one total run in the two games played in Azusa. The Cougars have won 63 of the 92 all-time meetings between the two programs. Biola is riding a hot streak coming into the series and so is APU. The Cougars have won four in a row after going 4-1 at last week's Tournament of Champions hosted by Stanislaus State. Prior to that performance APU went 7-5 in the 12 games against the Hawaii schools. By way of comparison - Biola was 10-2 against the three Hawaii teams. Azusa Pacific was led by senior Melanie Abzun at the TOC. She was Co-Player of the Week in the PacWest as a result of her efforts. She hit .478 and racked up two homers and 14 RBI in APU's six games last week. Abzun came into the week with eight total RBI. Saturday's doubleheader will mark Biola's 13th and 14th home games in a row. The Eagles are 12-4 at Freedom Field this season and 10-2 in conference home contests. After Saturday Biola has just one more home doubleheader (vs. Concordia Irvine on April 25.

FOUR HUNDRED: Both Kayla Neff and Hailey Boyett are hitting over .400 more than halfway through this Biola Softball season. The last time any Eagle hit over .400 for a season was when CeCe Luster had 56 hits and recorded a .434 number back in 2012. Neff has a .434 number coming into this week and Boyett is right behind her a .431. The last time Biola has had two batters hit over .400 was when Amerra Kesterson (.497) and Sarah Jensen (.447) did it in 2006. That was part of a stretch of four consecutive years (2004-07) when Biola had at least one hitter over the .400 mark. Biola is now leading the PacWest Conference in hitting with a .305 team average. Neff and Boyett are part of a group of four hitters in the PacWest hitting over .400. Only one PacWest player (CBU's Hannah Thieroff) hit over .400 last season (.425). Thieroff was the West Region Player of the Year in 2018.

AREE'S SENIOR NIGHT: Since he family is unable to attend Senior Night vs. Concordia Irvine later this month Biola Softball will honor Areana Ramos with a small Senior Night ceremony before the APU doubleheader this week. Come early to cheer for Ramos and the rest of the seniors on the field as the season begins to wind down. The ceremony is planned for 3:30 p.m.

OUCH!: Andi Hormel was hit by a pitch in the final three games of the Chaminade series last week. She was plunked five times total in the games against the Hawaii teams and leads the team with seven HBPs this season. Those seven plunkings give her 33 career free bases due to plunking. This season it's helped her to her second-best OBP of her career (.352). The 33 hit-by-pitches has her cemented in second place on the Biola all-time list, trailing only Jennifer Crinklaw who was hit 39 times in three seasons between 2001-03, including a whopping 24 times during Biola's 50-13 2001 season.

UPCOMING MILESTONES:
Hailey Boyett - 150 Games Played (132)
Hailey Boyett - 125 Hits (107)
Hailey Boyett - 400 Putouts (329)
Hailey Boyett - 75 RBI (62)
Andi Hormel - 175 Games Played (172)
Andi Hormel - 150 Hits (110)
Andi Hormel - 300 Assists (297)
Kayla Neff - 150 Hits (119)
Kayla Neff - 600 Putouts (534)
Kayla Neff - 75 RBI (69)
Missy Poti - 350 Putouts (339)
Areana Ramos - 150 Games Played (149)
Areana Ramos - 100 Runs Scored (83)
Areana Ramos - 150 Hits (133)
Areana Ramos - 30 Doubles (22)
Areana Ramos - 20 Homeruns (18)
Areana Ramos - 200 Putouts (159)
Areana Ramos - 30 Outfield Assists (27)

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. Kristin Halte recently re-joined the Biola coaching staff as the team's pitching coach. She was on staff under Head Coach Lorie Coleman from 2012-16 and returns this year to help the Eagles' talented young pitching staff.

NEXT WEEK: No games until the following week's road trip up north.