ROCHELLE — With the bases loaded and only one out in the bottom of the seventh inning on Tuesday, the Hubs varsity baseball team had a great chance to tie the game, or perhaps walk off to even its series with the Sterling Golden Warriors.

But a double-play grounder ended any chance of a comeback, and Sterling held on to beat Rochelle by a score of 2-1 after topping the Hubs 4-2 on Monday. The purple and white fall to 9-10-1 on the season, and they will face the Golden Warriors one more time on Thursday to try and avoid the sweep.

Monday

Senior Kyle Seebach took the mound to start the series, and the big lefty was locked in from the start, firing five innings and allowing just one hit while striking out seven batters. Sterling took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning, and Rochelle wouldn’t get the bats going until the top of the sixth, when the Hubs scored two runs to jump ahead 2-1.

After a walk to senior Caleb Gould to start the frame, senior Cristian Burciaga doubled with one out, and back-to-back singles by Seebach and senior Landon Griffith scored Gould and junior Lawson Simmons, who was running for Burciaga. Sterling escaped with a strikeout and flyout to right field, and the Golden Warriors walked six times in the bottom of the sixth to score three runs and take the lead once again.

Two Hubs singled in the top of the seventh including Gould, but Rochelle couldn’t tie the game.

Tuesday

Gould took the mound to start Rochelle’s Senior Night game, holding Sterling to one run with Burciaga finishing the game in relief. The Golden Warriors again took an early lead, scoring one in the top of the first to jump ahead 1-0.

But neither team did any serious damage for the remainder of the game. The Hubs drew three walks over the first two innings, and three hitters including Burciaga, Seebach and Griffith singled in the bottom of the third. Unfortunately for the purple and white, neither hitter would cross home plate.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the seventh, with Sterling now leading 2-0 after plating one run in the top half of the inning. Back-to-back singles by senior Sam Christensen and Gould set up a one-out double by sophomore Johnny Beck that hit the fence in right field and drove in one run to make it a 2-1 game.

The Golden Warriors intentionally walked Burciaga to set up a bases-loaded situation for Seebach, who singled in each of his previous two at-bats. The left-hander hit a hard grounder to first base, but the ball wound up right on the bag, and Sterling turned a 3-2-3 double play to escape the jam and pick up the win.