Despite a troublesome beginning, the Pella baseball team’s offense did heavy lifting in the middle innings to come away with an 8-4 non-conference win over Ottumwa last night, as heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Pella spotted the Bulldogs three 1st inning runs with poor defense, a balk, and three stolen bases allowed. But a Lucas Hileman Sac Fly RBI got the scoring started in the 4th before they exploded for five tallies in the top half of the fifth. Head Coach Jesse Jablonski was impressed with the team’s ability to be patient during their comeback.

“If we can string together a full lineup worth of good at-bats, and grinding out at-bats–we fouled off a lot of good two-strike pitches, good off-speed pitches,” he says. “I was extremely impressed with our guys tonight and the way they battled.”

The Little Dutch earned nine free passes and two hit batters as part of their offensive attack. Jaden Rolffs got the win, shutting down Ottumwa in four innings of relief with three Ks. Grant Judkins was 2-for-3 with a double, triple, and three driven in, and Lucas Hileman tacked on three RBI and allowed one earned run in three innings on the mound.

Pella is 19-6 and they return to wrap up the conference season next week, with a Norwalk doubleheader looming on Monday.