Corbin Westerkamp pitched six strong innings and delivered two big offensive blows as the Pella Christian baseball team snapped a seven game losing streak with a 6-2 win over Knoxville last night in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Westerkamp started the scoring with an RBI double in the first inning, then added another run-scoring two-bagger in the second. Sandwiched in between was a Bennett Spronk three-run home run, and Pella Christian was off to a 5-0 lead. Westerkamp said that getting some offensive support helped him settle in, but he was especially happy with the way his defense played behind him.

“Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did. There were a lot of hard ground balls hit, but we tested them all up and made the plays. That’s something that we’ve struggled with this year, but kudos to them because we had zero errors and that was a huge thing.”

Knoxville chipped away when Koby Higginbothom scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and Dakota Ramsey delivered an RBI single in the fifth. The Eagles grabbed an insurance run with a Kellan Shull base hit in the sixth, and freshman Grant Kelderman slammed the door with a one-two-three seventh inning on the mound.

Westerkamp got the win, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out six. The Eagles improve to 5-11 on the season and will jump back into Little Hawkeye Conference play tonight with a jayvee / varsity doubleheader at home against Indianola. Andrew Swadner will call the action of the varsity game on 94.3 KNIA and the free KNIA/KRLS mobile app, with pregame starting at 7:00.

Ramsey went the distance for Knoxville, giving up six runs on eight hits while striking out eight. The Panthers are 11-10 and will get back to South Central Conference action tonight with a home varsity doubleheader against Davis County.