Barbs rally for 8-4 win over Rochelle on Wednesday

ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Hub varsity baseball team hosted its final regular season game of the season on Wednesday, falling 8-4 against DeKalb in nonconference action.

The Barbs rallied for five runs over the last three innings of the game after the score was tied 3-3 after four frames. The Hubs (10-18, 4-10 Interstate 8) will be the No. 6 seed for the IHSA 3A Rochelle Regional, which begins with the quarterfinal game against No. 8 seed Sterling on Monday.

Senior Colton O’Rorke went 4-for-4 with four singles from the lead-off hole, while senior Bradley Cooney went 3-for-4 with three singles and three RBIs for the Hubs. Cooney started on the mound and threw four innings, striking out two batters and holding DeKalb to three runs.

The Barbs took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning, where back-to-back singles from Cole Latimer and Maddux Clarence led to a two-run single from Paul Kakoliris two batters later. Nik Nelson followed with an RBI single to give DeKalb a three-run advantage, which held until Rochelle tallied three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Junior Braden Behrens reached and scored on two errors before Cooney’s two-out, two-run single tied the score later in the frame.

DeKalb inched ahead in the top of the fifth inning, scoring on an RBI single from Nate Nunez and a Hub error to take a 5-3 lead. O’Rorke’s lead-off single in the bottom of the fifth inning led to an RBI single from Cooney three batters later, which made the score 5-4 heading into the top of the sixth inning, where Gavin Heller walked and scored on a wild pitch for the Barbs.

Jackson Kess capped off a two-run frame for DeKalb in the top of the seventh inning, hitting a two-out RBI single up the middle to give the Barbs a four-run advantage. O’Rorke and Cooney each singled for the Hubs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but both were stranded on base.