The Oskaloosa High baseball team opens the Class 3A Substate 5 playoffs Friday night (7/16) when they take on Cedar Rapids Xavier.  Indians Coach Bill Almond talks about how his team has improved through the course of the season.

“Mentally and physically.  We were young at the beginning of the year and we’ve grown as we’ve gone on here.  Our approach is better at the plate. We’re not making as many errors as we were at the beginning of the year.  We’re playing good baseball.”

Oskaloosa takes a 7-22 record into Friday night’s game against a Xavier team that’s 21-12 and ranked fourth in the State by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association.  Friday night’s game starts at 7 at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids.  KBOE-FM will have live coverage starting at 6:45.

Other high school baseball playoff games on Friday in Class 3A have Newton at Solon, Bondurant-Farrar at Pella, Knoxville at Carlisle and Perry at Grinnell. And in Class 4A baseball Friday, Ottumwa hosts Cedar Rapids Washington.

District championships will be decided Saturday (7/17) in classes 1A & 2A. baseball playoff games