Hubs fall behind 0-2 in three-game series with Ottawa

Varsity team falls 8-6, 9-1 to start conference set

Russell Hodges
Posted 4/11/17

Some rough weather brought the first two games of the Hubs varsity baseball team’s three-game series with the Ottawa Pirates to Rochelle Township High School, but the purple and white were unable to snag a victory on their home field.

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Hubs fall behind 0-2 in three-game series with Ottawa

Varsity team falls 8-6, 9-1 to start conference set

Posted

ROCHELLE — Some rough weather brought the first two games of the Hubs varsity baseball team’s three-game series with the Ottawa Pirates to Rochelle Township High School, but the purple and white were unable to snag a victory on their home field.

After falling in a back-and-forth affair by a score of 8-6 on Tuesday, the Hubs looked to even the series on Wednesday. But a fast start by the Pirates quickly evaporated those hopes, scoring six runs in the first two innings and cruising to a 9-1 victory. The two losses drop Rochelle to 3-4-1 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.

“I thought we had some really good swings on Tuesday and we had a lot of base runners at the bottom of the order which was good to see,” head coach Jarrod Reynolds said. “We hit the ball hard all-around on Tuesday… I really liked how we battled back in that first game. It was really nice to see us fight and I was proud of the kids for battling back. Their pitcher did a good job [Wednesday], he was throwing strikes and he was changing speeds when he needed to.”

Senior Cristian Burciaga crushed his second home run of the season to give Rochelle a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opening game, while senior Kyle Seebach took the mound and shut Ottawa down through the first two innings. But the Pirates captalized on several Rochelle mistakes in the middle of the contest, and the Hubs were simply unable to recover.

“We gave them a lot of free bases and we had some errors and some past balls,” Reynolds said. “We really didn’t help ourselves and they really battled with two strikes which helped them out… I felt like we gave them some runs.”

Rochelle’s lone run on Wednesday came off a solo home run by senior Caleb Gould in the first inning. Seniors Sam Christensen and Matt Albers each recorded singles to try and lift up the offense, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough to overcome an early hole. The Hubs will play the Pirates at Ottawa on Thursday.