LASALLE — The Hubs varsity baseball team may not have ended its series with LaSalle-Peru on a high note, but the purple and white did their damage ahead of time to ensure a victory in their three-game set with the Cavaliers.

Rochelle fell on Friday by a score of 11-8, but the Hubs downed LaSalle-Peru at home 6-2 on Thursday to seal their first conference series win of the season. The team’s record now stands at 9-8-1 overall.

Thursday

The Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Rochelle senior Matt Albers singled and scored in the bottom of the second to even the game. The Hubs jumped ahead 2-1 in the third inning when senior Caleb Gould singled and crossed home plate on a two-out double to left field by senior Kyle Seebach.

Both teams went down quietly in the fourth, with the starting pitcher Gould inducing a flyout and a groundout with a LaSalle-Peru runner on third base to escape the Cavaliers’ scoring threat. Junior Noah Mershon began the bottom of the fifth inning with a bunt single, and two consecutive Hubs reached base on errors to plate one run and make it a 3-1 game.

Senior Cristian Burciaga hammered a hard grounder through the middle with one out for a two-run single, and the first baseman came around to score on hits by Seebach and Albers, with Seebach being gunned down at home for the final out of the frame with Rochelle up 6-1.

The Cavs earned one run back in the sixth, but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the five-run deficit. Gould picked up the victory for Rochelle.

Friday

Back-to-back walks helped LaSalle-Peru take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Gould scored for Rochelle in the bottom half to even the score. Neither team did any damage in the second, but the Hubs suffered a tough third inning to fall behind 7-1. Six consecutive Cavalier batters crossed home plate in the bottom half, and despite a double by sophomore Johnny Beck and a single by senior Landon Griffith in the top half, Rochelle couldn’t bite into the LaSalle-Peru lead.

The Cavaliers added three more runs over the fourth and fifth innings to make it a 10-1 game before Burciaga doubled and Griffith singled in the top of the fifth to help Rochelle gain two runs back. A single by Gould in the sixth helped the team generate three more runs to bump the score to 11-6, and both junior Brendon Danekas and senior Sam Christensen crossed home plate in the top of the seventh to make it a three-run game. But LaSalle-Peru’s six-run third inning proved too steep a hill to climb.