ROCK FALLS — The Rochelle Little League 10-11 Boys All-Star Team cruised to a spot in the 2017 Illinois Little League District 19 Championship after two decisive victories this past week.

The boys defeated Freeport by a score of 12-2 in five innings on Wednesday before taking down Rock Falls 10-4 on Thursday to advance to the district championship. Rochelle will face either Freeport or Rock Falls on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Freeport

Brock Metzger reached on an error and scored to put Rochelle on the board in the first inning. The 10-11 All-Stars added another run in the second inning when Paul Swartz went deep for his first home run of the postseason. Swartz went 3-for-3 in the game with a team-high three runs scored.

With a 2-0 lead, Rochelle blew Freeport away with six runs in the top of the third inning. Colton O’Rorke reached on an error and scored after a single by Erich Metzger and a walk by Felix Schlenbecker. Metzger and Schlenbecker both scored, and three more runners crossed home plate including Swartz, Omar Hueramo and Landon DeLille.

Freeport scored two runs in the bottom of the third to cut Rochelle’s lead to 8-2, but Rochelle responded with one run in the top of the fourth inning after Christian Burnette singled and scored on a triple by Erich Metzger. Swartz doubled to lead off the fifth inning, with Nolan Fonfara and Brandt Waters each singling soon after.

O’Rorke and Burnette hit back-to-back singles with one out to keep the Rochelle offense going, with O’Rorke scoring the game’s final run.

Rock Falls

Four Rochelle players totaled two hits in Rochelle’s victory over Rock Falls on Thursday including Brock Metzger, O’Rorke, Erich Metzger and Aidan Rodriguez. Fonfara and Swartz each added one hit to aid the Rochelle offense in the win.

But the story of the game was Rochelle’s pitching, with O’Rorke, Schlenbecker, Burnette and Hueramo combining to no-hit the Rock Falls offense.