ROCHELLE — The Hubs varsity baseball team has been looking forward to playing the Sterling Golden Warriors for nearly the entire season, and the Rochelle boys earned their first crack at last season’s Northern Illinois Big 12 West champions when the two rivals squared off at Rochelle Township High School on Monday.

Junior Hayden Jones cracked two home runs, and junior Johnny Beck struck out 11 batters over six innings to put Rochelle in position to lock up the series-opener. Senior Johnny Kisner tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Kisner tossed one shutout inning of relief to seal Rochelle’s 9-5 victory over Sterling.

The Hubs improved their record to 10-6 overall and 8-2 in the NIB-12 West. Rochelle can clinch a share of the conference title with a win at Sterling on Tuesday.

“It was huge for us to come out and get a win, especially when our ace is on the mound,” head coach Jarrod Reynolds said. “We may see these guys again during the regional, so knowing that we can beat them and we can play well against them is good for our confidence… The kids looked ready to play and they were taking really good swings.”

Jones and Beck belted back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning to put the Hubs ahead of Sterling 2-0. The Golden Warriors responded with two runs in the top of the second inning, but the Rochelle boys countered with four runs in the bottom frame. Sophomore Gavin Ansteth doubled to lead off the frame, and after senior Riley Lodico singled with one out, Ansteth scored on an RBI single by junior Zack Bernardin.

Junior Brandon Johnson plated Lodico with an RBI single, and both Bernardin and Johnson crossed home plate on a two-RBI double by Beck.

“We had really good at-bats up and down the order,” Reynolds said. “Offensively I thought this was one of our best games overall. We looked like a different team hitting-wise. The kids were aggressive and they were on time when hitting the fastball.”

Beck struck out four Sterling batters over scoreless frames in the third and fourth innings, but the Golden Warriors got back on the scoreboard with three runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut Rochelle’s lead to 6-5. Beck walked to start the Hubs in the bottom of the fifth inning before Jones launched his second home run of the game to increase Rochelle’s advantage to 8-5. Jones recorded the first multi-homer game of his varsity career in the win.

“Their pitcher was trying to paint the outside corners with his fastball and I was able to get a hold of one,” Jones said. “Getting the first win in this series was really important. Knowing that we can hit these guys and it felt really good to hit well as a team… We’re much more motivated to win the conference title and this win will help us be more aggressive in the second game.”

Bernardin doubled in the bottom of the sixth inning before scoring on Kisner’s RBI single. The Hubs managed to beat Sterling despite yielding seven stolen bases to the Golden Warriors, and Rochelle will try for its share of the NIB-12 West title at Sterling on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.