Junior All-Stars down Clear Ridge in state tourney opener

Rochelle picks up 6-3 victory

Russell Hodges
Posted 7/25/17

The Rochelle Little League Junior All-Stars are nearly three weeks into the postseason, but the boys haven’t skipped a beat.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Junior All-Stars down Clear Ridge in state tourney opener

Rochelle picks up 6-3 victory

Posted

ROCK FALLS — The Rochelle Little League Junior All-Stars are nearly three weeks into the postseason, but the boys haven’t skipped a beat.

After winning its district title and qualifying out of its sub-state pool as the No. 2 seed, Rochelle defeated Clear Ridge on Tuesday by a score of 6-3 to tee off the 2017 Illinois Little League State Tournament. The Junior All-Stars improved to 6-1 this summer with the victory.

Two runners from each team reached base in the first inning, but neither Clear Ridge nor Rochelle were able to put any runs on the board. The Junior All-Stars broke the game open in the bottom of the second inning when Sam Hacaga singled and scored on a two-out single by Nolan Morrissette to give Rochelle a 1-0 lead.

Breccan Berns singled to score Morrissette, and both Spencer Warborg and Kyler Lara reached on errors to plate two more runs and extend Rochelle’s lead to 4-0. Grant Thompson singled soon after, but Thompson was stranded on base.

Clear Ridge responded with two runs in the third inning and one run in the top of the fourth inning to cut Rochelle’s lead to 4-3. But the Junior All-Stars earned one run back in the bottom of the fourth inning when Berns drew a hit-by-pitch before stealing second base and scoring to make it a 5-3 game.

Ethan Albers walked and scored on an RBI groundout by Garrett Burdin to give Rochelle a 6-3 lead, and the Junior All-Stars shut the Clear Ridge bats down for the remainder of the game to seal the win. Seven Rochelle pitchers combined to throw seven innings on Tuesday, with Lara starting the contest before handing the ball to Burdin, who threw two and one-third innings and became the winning pitcher.

Berns and Hacaga combined for one and one-third innings of relief before Warborg struck out three batters in one inning.

Justin Beck, who went 1-for-1 with a single, recorded one out before Morrissette hurled two-thirds of an inning while striking out two Clear Ridge batters to record the save.