ROCHELLE — Sophomore Johnny Andrist was successful on the mound and at the plate as the Rochelle Hubs teed off their Interstate 8 varsity baseball series with Kaneland on Monday.

Andrist earned the start and struck out four batters over five and one-third innings, holding the Knights to one earned run on five hits. The sophomore also went 2 for 3 with two singles and an RBI to lead the Rochelle offense, which scattered six hits during the team’s 6-1 loss. The Hubs (5-6, 0-4 Interstate 8) will continue their conference series at Kaneland on Wednesday evening.

“Johnny has a great arm and when he’s in the strike zone, I think he’s really tough for teams to hit,” head coach Jarrod Reynolds said. “I felt like they were behind him all day and he did a good job of keeping us in the ball game. It’s difficult to be a sophomore on varsity, but I think he’s going to benefit from this experience and I think he’s going to be a really good player.”

Kaneland (10-4, 2-1 Interstate 8) capitalized on a pair of Rochelle errors early in the game, scoring an unearned run in the top of the first inning before a trio of singles led to another run in the top of the second inning. Although the Knights threatened for more in the second inning, Andrist escaped the jam with back-to-back strikeouts. Andrist then shut down the Kaneland offense over the next three frames, limiting the Knights to just two singles during that span.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning, Rochelle scored its first and only run of the evening. Senior Brandyn Metzger ignited the offense with a one-out single and sophomore Andrew Huerta drew a walk in the next at-bat to put two runners on base. A strikeout put Kaneland one out away from ending the inning, but Andrist stepped up and delivered the hit of the game for Rochelle, slapping an RBI single to the shortstop side to bring home Metzger.

The Hubs almost tied the game soon after, as sophomore Dylan Manning singled out of the No. 9 hole in the lineup. But a throw from left fielder Brady Alstott to catcher Nate Campbell caught Huerta advancing home to end the inning and preserve the Kaneland lead. Rochelle put two runners on base in the bottom of the third inning, where senior Carson Lewis reached on a lead-off single and junior Brode Metzger drew a walk, but three straight outs ended the threat.

“I thought we played with them for most of the game and that’s been our thing,” Reynolds said. “We have to put a full game together and I think if we can get to the point where we can put a full seven innings together… We’re right there on the doorstep and we just need to get over that hump. We did some good things today and we have some little things we need to clean up.”

Nolan Claeson’s RBI groundout in the top of the sixth inning gave the Knights a 3-1 advantage and set the stage for a breakthrough seventh inning, where Alstott smacked a two-run single and Thomas Thill reached on an infield single for an RBI to put Kaneland ahead by five runs. Andrist pounded a one-out single through the left side in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the sophomore was caught stealing on a strikeout for a game-ending double play.