LA MIRADA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific extended its season-opening win streak to five games after rallying from a 4-1 eighth-inning deficit for a 7-6 win over Biola in a non-conference matchup Wednesday afternoon.

Senior outfielder Sean Aspinall tied the game at 4-4 with one out in the top of the eighth, and freshman Osvaldo Tovalin knocked in the go-ahead run in the ninth to spark another three-run frame. It turned out the Cougars needed every last run, as Biola freshman Tyler Piston made Azusa Pacific pay the price for three consecutive one-out walks when he delivered a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to 7-6.

However, Layne Henderson recovered to strike out Andy Van Antwerp on three pitches to close out the win and record his first save of the season.

What's Next: Up next for Azusa Pacific is a home-opening doubleheader against Western Oregon University on Friday, Feb. 9, with a single game to follow Saturday, Feb. 10, to conclude the three-game non-conference series.

Cornerstone Cup Update: According to the scoring guidelines for the Cornerstone Cup presented by West Coast Sand & Gravel, the school with more wins in regular-season head-to-head competition will claim 10 points towards the rivalry trophy competition. With the addition of Wednesday's single non-conference game to the four-game Pacific West Conference series later this year, the five-game baseball series becomes a winner-take-all affair for 10 Cornerstone Cup points. The teams will not meet again until the second-to-last series of the regular season (April 26-28), when the Cougars visit La Mirada again for the four-game PacWest set.

How It Happened: Biola starting pitcher Micah Beyer struck out 7 and surrendered just 1 run on 6 hits, leaving after 5 innings with a 3-1 lead. The Eagles scored first when Anj Bourgeois led off the bottom of the first with a home run. Azusa Pacific tied the game at 1-1 with a Justin Gomez RBI single in the third before Biola took advantage of two Cougar errors in the fourth which led to a pair of unearned runs.

After the Eagles plated a seventh-inning insurance run to extend the lead to 4-1, Nick Estrella jump-started the Cougar offense with a one-out double in the eighth inning. After Steven Garrett drew a one-out walk, Aspinall hit a 1-0 offering from Honus Kindreich over the fence in right field to tie the game at 4-4. After John Szczesny set the Eagles down in order in the bottom of the eighth, the Cougar offense picked up where it left off to produce another three-run inning. Mychael Goudreau led off with a double to center, Gomez was hit by pitch, and Pablo O'Connor drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Tovalin. His single to right scored Goudreau to break the 4-4 tie, and Estrella and Garrett hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to extend the lead to 7-4.

Inside The Box Score: Gomez, O'Connor, and Aspinall each collected two hits to pace Azusa Pacific's 11-hit attack, and Tovalin has now hit safely in each of the first five games of the season after going 1-for-5 with the go-ahead RBI in the ninth. Hayden Jorgenson limited the Eagles to one run in three innings of middle-relief work, while Szczesny picked up his first collegiate victory.

After issuing just five walks in the entire four-game season-opening series at San Francisco State, Azusa Pacific surrendered six walks to Biola's offense. The Eagles were led by Bourgeois, who added a leadoff single in the fifth to finish 2-for-5, while cleanup hitter Jacob Portaro went 2-for-4 with a double.