ROCHELLE — Riley Lodico admitted that it took he and his teammates a little time to get into the swing of baseball season, but the junior pitcher and outfielder played a big part in the Hubs’ first victory of the season Tuesday afternoon at Rochelle Township High School.

Behind two RBIs by senior Cristian Burciaga and a complete game by Lodico, the Hubs held off Rockford Auburn by a score of 3-1 to improve to 1-2-1 on the season. Lodico struck out seven batters while walking just two and surrendering five hits.

“It felt really good,” Lodico said. “We haven’t had many games yet so getting our first win will hopefully spark something. I was just trying to throw strikes and I had the mindset that I could get it done.”

Entering Tuesday’s game averaging two runs per contest and looking to ignite its offense, Rochelle played some small ball in the bottom of the first inning, with sophomore Brandon Johnson beating out a dropped third strike to get on base and senior Caleb Gould lining a single to right field shortly after. Burciaga hit a hard grounder to short, but a fielding error allowed the Hubs to load the bases for sophomore Johnny Beck, who drew a walk to score Johnson and put Rochelle up 1-0.

“We had some good at-bats at the beginning of the game to get their starter’s pitch count up which was good to see,” head coach Jarrod Reynolds said. “We still have some things to work on but we did have some guys step up with good at-bats throughout the game.”

One of those guys is Burciaga, who returned to the Rochelle lineup in the No. 3 spot and gave the Hubs a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI double that scored Gould, who went 2-for-3 in the game including a double in the previous at-bat. Burciaga then connected on a solo home run to center field in the fifth inning to give Rochelle a 3-1 advantage.

“We’re going to need Cristian to produce,” Reynolds said. “He’s our big bat and it was really nice to have him in the lineup today. He’s not going to hit a home run and a double every single game, but if he can consistently produce for us, it’s going to make us a much better team.”

Burciaga and senior Matt Albers each finished the game going 2-for-3 at the plate, while Beck ended up going 1-for-2 with a single. With a two-run lead to protect, Lodico continued to put down Auburn hitters with ease, holding the Knights’ No. 5 through No. 9 hitters to just one hit in 13 at-bats on the afternoon.

“This win boosts my confidence,” Lodico said. “I struggled a little bit in relief a couple games ago, but I’m getting back after it and things will be good going forward.”

The Hubs will try for two wins in a row when they face Winnebago on Friday. While the three-run performance ties a season-high, Reynolds said he still expects more from his team on the offensive end.

“We had 11 strikeouts which was disappointing to see,” he said. “I think we’re still being a little bit too passive at the plate. We need to do a better job protecting the outside part of the plate with two strikes.”