LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Baseball was picked to finish fourth in the PacWest Preseason Poll released by the Conference Office on Wednesday.

Head Coach Jeff Calhoon's group finished two points ahead of University of Hawaii at Hilo to finish in the top half of the poll for the second-straight year. Juniors Jackson Collins, RobertAnthony Cruz and Ryan Gallegos represented the Eagles on the Preseason All-PacWest team, a great honor for the three men since only one team is picked in the preseason recognitions. 

Azusa Pacific was tabbed as the preseason favorite with 79 points after going 40-15 last year and advancing to the NCAA West Region Super Regional against UC San Diego. Point Loma finished in second place in poll with 69 points and Concordia was third with 56 points after receiving the two first-place votes that APU didn't get. 

Being picked ahead of the Vulvans is a nice sign of respect for Coach Calhoon's group, as UH Hilo finished second in the conference standings a year ago with a 21-11 PacWest record. Biola was 17-15 in conference play in 2019, but get two all-conference players back from injury in Gallegos and Jacob Portaro, return three members of its starting rotation and is the only PacWest team that can say it has an All-PacWest player at every infield position. 

"Being ranked in the top half of the conference by our peers just makes us even more excited to get the season started," said Head Coach Jeff Calhoon. "But we know there's still work to and we have a lot of room to grow."

Jackson Collins adds this Preseason All-PacWest recognition to his second team All-PacWest award last year after he edged out APU's Tido Robles in the preseason voting. Collins led the conference in on-base percentage as late as May 1, and finished in the top-five in the conference in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and walks. 

He joined Cole Kleszcz and Osvaldo Tovalin as the only hitter to appear in the top-five for both OBP and slugging after May 7, and was first, or tied for first, among first baseman in homeruns, walks, on-base percentage and slugging. 

Cruz was an All-PacWest third team selection in 2019 and posted the highest number of runs scored (35) and doubles (14) among returning second baseman. The Riverside, Califoria-native was second on the Eagles last year with 83 total bases, extra-base hits (20) and multi-hit games (15) and third with 33 RBI's. He started 47 of Biola's 48 games and had a .949 field percentage in 187 chances.

Lastly, the PacWest made sure to show its respect for the hitting prowess of Ryan Gallegos, even after he had to deal with injury last year. A second team All-PacWest selection in 2018 and Preseason NCBWA All-American in 2019, Ryan Gallegos is fully healthy to start the 2020 season and looks to return or improve upon his freshman campaign during which he drove in 50 runs with 10 homers. 

Gallegos also had a seven-game hitting streak in February 2019 to raise his batting average to. 367 before he had to be kept out of the lineup at the end of the month. He'll start this season as a .328 hitter across 81 games as an NCAA DII player with 13 homeruns and 71 RBI's. 

"I'm proud that these three guys are getting recognized for their hard work on and off the field," said Calhoon. "We talk a lot about what you do away from the diamond and in the classroom prepares you for success on the field and all three of these guys are great examples of that."

Biola Baseball starts its season this coming Friday with a three-game series at Eagles Diamond against a Cal State Monterey Bay team that finished second in the CCAA preseason poll. After a quick trip to Cal State San Bernardino this coming Friday, the Eagles will have a six-game homestand against the Yotes, Colorado Christian and Colorado Springs before heading to Hawaii. They'll play their first official conference games against Hawaii Pacific on March 4 and return to Eagles Diamond to host Point Loma in a PacWest series beginning March 13. 

Azusa Pacific comes to town on April 3 and 4 and the Eagles will wrap up the PacWest schedule in May with four-games at Holy Names before hopefully qualifying for the NCAA West Regional that is slated to begin May 14. 
 

2020 PACWEST BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL
	TEAM	POINTS	2019 RECORD
1.	Azusa Pacific (7)	79	40-15 (26-6)
2.	Point Loma	69	32-21 (18-13)
3.	Concordia (2)	56	23-24 (18-14)
4.	Biola	50	29-19 (17-15)
5.	Hawai`i Hilo	48	26-19 (21-11)
6.	Fresno Pacific	38	21-24 (17-15)
7.	Hawai`i Pacific	27	22-27 (9-22)
8.	Holy Names	19	16-32 (10-21)
8.	Academy of Art	19	17-29 (6-35)
First-place votes in parenthesis