Area roundup: Pella Christian baseball falls in season opener
May 17—Baseball
Sigourney 11, Pella Christian 7
PELLA — The Eagles got their season underway on Thursday night at home against Sigourney. Pella Christian led early but the Savages scored the final eight runs to win.
PC got off to a strong start leading 6-2 through two innings. Both teams traded runs in the fourth before Sigourney continued to score with three in the fifth and five in the seventh to rally to the win.
Grant Kelderman led the PC bats going 2-for-3 with three RBIs while Luke Fynaardt, Trevor Veenstra and Tysen De Vries both drove in one run. Kelderman also started on the mound and pitched 4 1/3 innings allowing five runs, four earned, on eight hits with one walk and 11 strikeouts. Brecken Ritzert suffered the loss after allowing six runs on two hits with six walks and five strikeouts.
Pella Christian (0-1) is right back at it on Friday at 7 p.m. at Carlisle (1-1).
Pella 10, Centerville 8
PELLA — The Dutch were able to hold off the Big Red of Centerville late in a high-scoring game on Thursday night.
Pella built a 6-1 lead after two innings but saw Centerville cut it to one with four runs in the top of the fifth only for the Dutch to answer with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Centerville continued to apply pressure with three runs in the sixth to pull back within two before Pella was able to hold on for the win.
It was another big night for Isaiah Kettler as the junior centerfielder went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a triple to finish a homer short of the cycle while driving in two runs. Nathan Carey was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs while Teagan Hoekstra also drove in one run.
Nathan VandeLune secured the win after pitching five innings and allowing five runs, one earned, on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Pella (2-1) will head to PCM (0-1) on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Colin Peters can be reached at 641-672-2581, by email at cpeters@oskyherald.com or on Twitter @ColinPetersOH.
