Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

Dominant pitching combined with timely offense for the Pella Christian baseball team was more than enough to secure the Class 2A Substate 6 quarterfinal victory Monday night, as the Eagles defeated Albia 6-0 in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Trevor Veenstra started the game as the opener on the mound and allowed just one walk while recording a strike out in a scoreless first inning. Connor Van Zee took the bump to start the second inning, and tossed six scoreless frames the rest of the way while striking out nine and giving up just four hits and a walk. Albia’s only threat to get on the scoreboard came in the third inning, when back-to-back two-out singles nearly put runners at the corners, but Brecken Ritzert came up firing from right field on the second hit to throw the runner out at third base.

Offensively for the Eagles, they plated their first two runs in the bottom of the third, before adding a run in the fourth inning and three runs in the sixth to secure the win. Veenstra led the charge offensively for Pella Christian, going 3-for-3 at the plate with a double and a run scored. Caleb Van Arendonk added a 2-for-3 performance with a double, while Luke Fynaardt provided two of the four runs batted in for the Eagles.

With the win, Pella Christian advances to the Substate semifinals, where they will once again travel to Urbandale to take on Class 2A #2 Des Moines Christian on Saturday.