Both the Pella and Pella Christian baseball teams enter their playoff matchups this Friday and Saturday respectively as a lower seed hitting the road.

The Little Dutch, 11-22 at the end of the regular season, take on Solon in Oskaloosa Friday in the 3A District 12 opener. The Spartans are 20-17 overall, and has lost seven of their last ten since the 4th of July. Pella won two in a row to end the regular season, snapping a five game losing streak — and the Dutch are 3-6 in their last nine. Solon’s Cam Miller comes in as their key player — he carries a 5-3 record as a pitcher, giving up just 8 earned runs in 56 innings, striking out 91 to just 13 walks. He’s also a .348 hitter and leads Solon in doubles. They hit .268 as a team, give up 3.5 earned runs a game, and field .912 as a team.

Pella Christian, at 16-14, has a rematch for the chance to head to the substate finals this Saturday when they head to State Center to take on West Marshall. The Eagles fell to the top seed in Class 2A District 10 in the 2nd game of the year 11-4 in a game which they only gave up three hits. However, 11 walks and four unearned runs allowed the Trojans to pull away. West Marshall dominated East Marshall 11-1 to advance, and are 6-1 since the 4th of July. The Trojans lineup is deep, with a .344 team average and 21 team home runs, scoring 10 runs per game. Senior Cameron Bannister earned the win against East Marshall Tuesday, throwing 87 pitches to earn a complete game win, and the ace of their staff has given up just 4 earned runs in 45 2/3 innings.

Hear the Pella baseball playoff opener Friday at 5 p.m., with pregame at 4:45, and the Eagles on Saturday with first pitch at 7 p.m. and pregame at 6:45, with both games on 92.1 KRLS, kniakrls.com, and the free KRLS mobile app.