Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

Despite not reaching their ultimate goal of the State Tournament, the Pella Christian baseball team was thrilled to see continued improvement on the mound late in the season.

Playing a primarily 3A and 4A heavy schedule in the Little Hawkeye Conference, the Eagles pitching staff entered postseason action with a team ERA of 6.78 in league games and 5.39 overall. In the final four games of the summer for Pella Christian, their pitchers allowed just nine earned runs in 28 innings, with all nine runs coming against Class 2A #1 West Marshall and #2 Des Moines Christian. Posting a 2.25 team ERA in the final two weeks of the season, Eagles head coach Chris Fynaardt was thrilled with his pitching staff’s continued improvement.

“Overall after going through the Little Hawkeye Conference, our pitching took a great step forward, and we knew that’s what we were going to need. Any team that goes into the postseason, I think you really rely on your pitching. You don’t expect that you’re going to score four or five runs against another team’s best pitching, but our kids stepped up and pitched really well.”

The Pella Christian baseball team finished the season with a 14-21 record and graduate seven seniors from this year’s team.