The Pella High School baseball team’s bats remained red-hot at Eagle Lane in their sweep of Pella Christian 7-6 and 11-0 in a doubleheader, with game two heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

In game one, Pella struck first with a two-run home run from Tyler Hillman. The Little Dutch extended their lead to four in the 3rd frame, but two dutch defensive errors gave Will Dembski the bases loaded, and he promptly smashed a grand slam to tie the action. After three scoreless innings, the boys in green struck for three more runs, with the help of a Jaden Rolffs two-run shot. Pella Christian rallied for two in the bottom of the seventh, but left the tying run at third to give game one to their cross town rivals. Caleb Piersma got the win on the mound, and Scott Haveman was tagged with the loss.

Pella took command of game two early with a five-run 2nd, that featured the first of two home runs hit by Landon Vander Leest. Coach Jesse Jablonski says he saw his struggling first baseman in good spirits for the first time in awhile, which he thinks will be a big boost to Landon and the team’s confidence.

“It was good to see the smile on his face tonight because he’s been scuffling a little bit at the plate over the last week or two,” he says.

Eagles skipper Jeff Bruxvoort feels like his team ran after gas following a long week of comeback attempts, including in game one.

“I feel like in that last game tonight, you get down as many as we do, and we were defeated,” he says. “So you fight, and you fight, and you fight, and that’s what you want them to do, and you get to a point to where there’s nothing in the tank.”

The Little Dutch tagged Pella Christian for five more runs in the top of the 5th, and Tyler Hillman shut the door on the Eagles, retiring nine of the last eleven hitters he faced to earn the win. Hillman had seven strikeouts in the three hit effort.

The Little Dutch improve to 9-8 and 6-6 in the Little Hawkeye Conference, and have won four of their last five games. Pella Christian drops to 9-10 and 5-7 in the conference, dropping five contests in a row. Both play in tournaments later today, with Pella traveling to Williamsburg and the Eagles taking on Tipton and Gilbert.