It was advantage Pella in the Class 3A Substate 7 baseball opening round in the Red Rock Rivalry renewed, as the Dutch knocked off Knoxville 8-2, as heard live on both 95.3 KNIA and the KRLS3 stream.

Knoxville opened with a tally in the top of the 1st inning, only for the Dutch to answer in the bottom of the 3rd. The Panthers responded with another run in the top of the 4th, and had Pella with two outs in the bottom of that inning until the Dutch busted it open with five more runs. Pella’s Anderson Schirm tied the game with an RBI single and Quinn Rhamy reached on a critical error and the bases loaded to give the home team their first lead. The floodgates opened from there, as Jason Knox plated two more with a single following a wild pitch. Pella scored two more insurance runs in the 6th inning before shutting the door in the 7th.

Knox finished with 11 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings and had three runs batted in on a 2-for-4 night. After falling in each of his two previous postseason starts, he was thrilled to find victory and to push Pella into the next round.

FULL INTERVIEW WITH KNOX:

Schirm and Isaiah Kettler both reached base all times they were at the plate with two hits each. Trenten Kingrey and Hayden Hatch each had a pair of hits for Knoxville.

The Panthers finish the season at 20-13 and says farewell to three varsity seniors. Pella improves to 21-14 overall and will have a rematch with conference foe Newton Monday at home. That broadcast will be live on 92.1 KRLS at 6:30 p.m. and Pella Dutch Live.

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