The Hillcrest Academy Raven baseball and softball teams are back at home Friday when they welcome the Pekin Panthers to Kalona. The Raven baseball team is 0-3 on the year after a 6-2 loss to Mediapolis Thursday. The Ravens are hitting .160 as a team with a staff ERA of 3.85. Individually, Hillcrest is paced by Jace Rempel with a .300 average. On the hill it’s London Schrock with a 1.75 ERA in four innings. Pekin is an unbeaten 3-0 this year with wins over Highland, Winfield-Mt. Union and Van Buren. The Panthers are hitting .303 on the year with an ERA of 1.65. Individually the Panthers are paced by Chase Stansberry with a .600 average and eight RBI. On the hill he’s also the leader with a 2-0 record and 2.71 ERA. These two teams met last year with Pekin winning 5-2. The Panthers have won five of the last six in the series.

The Hillcrest girls are 0-4 after an 18-8 loss at Mediapolis Thursday. The Ravens are hitting .219 this year with an ERA of 15.96. Individually they are led by Esther Hughes with a .444 average with one RBI. Leah Bontrager has done all of the pitching so far for Hillcrest.

Pekin is also winless at 0-3 on the year after losses to Highland, Winfield-Mt. Union and Van Buren. The Panthers are hitting .136 as a team with an ERA of 4.08. They are led individually by Emi Zook with a .500 average. Brooke Miller has done all of the pitching so far for Pekin. These two teams met a season ago with Pekin taking an 8-0 win. The Panthers have won five straight in the series and 10 of the last 12. Both games get underway tonight at seven in Kalona. You can hear all of the baseball action live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 6:30 and the Premier Shed Shop and Champion Metal Supply first pitch at seven.