Rochelle varsity baseball coach Jarrod Reynolds feels confident when junior Brandon Johnson approaches home plate with runners on base. Reynolds had more reason to think highly of his left-handed slugger after he crushed the biggest hit of Tuesday’s conference game between the Hubs and the Ottawa Pirates.
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ROCHELLE — Rochelle varsity baseball coach Jarrod Reynolds feels confident when junior Brandon Johnson approaches home plate with runners on base. Reynolds had more reason to think highly of his left-handed slugger after he crushed the biggest hit of Tuesday’s conference game between the Hubs and the Ottawa Pirates.
Neither Rochelle nor Ottawa could score over the first four innings of play, but the Hubs ignited a fifth-inning rally when senior Riley Lodico and junior Zack Bernardin hit back-to-back singles to give Rochelle runners on first and second with nobody out. Johnson stepped into the batter’s box, and on the first pitch from Ottawa’s Tyler Carson, Johnson hammered a three-run homer over the left field fence to give the Hubs a 3-0 lead.
Rochelle added one more run in the fifth inning before scoring twice in the sixth inning. And behind a complete game shutout by junior Johnny Beck, who struck out 11 batters, the Hubs cruised over Ottawa by a score of 6-0 for their first conference win this season. Rochelle is now 3-1 overall.
“It felt pretty good to get a win today,” said Bernardin, who singled twice in the victory. “We played a well-rounded game… I think we were timing [Carson’s] pitches better as the game went on and we were able to get runners on base and knock them in. We have two more away game against them but they threw their best pitcher at us today so we’re feeling confident.”
Rochelle put two runners on base twice over the first four innings, but even though the Hubs were unable to score, the Pirates had a rough time getting any offense going against Beck, who took a no-hitter into the top of the sixth inning. Beck has 36 strikeouts in 18 innings of work over Rochelle’s first four games.
“Johnny throws hard and it’s really important when you can throw a fastball right by somebody,” Reynolds said. “He throws two pitches for strikes and he can really keep hitters off balance. When you throw a lot of strikes with two really good pitches it’s going to make things tough for opposing hitters.”
Rochelle took a 4-0 lead after senior Johnny Kisner scored on a fielder’s choice double play by junior Cody Johnson in the fifth inning. Kisner’s fielder’s choice line drive in the sixth inning scored Bernardin to give the Hubs a 5-0 advantage, and Kisner scored on an RBI single by Beck.
