ROCHELLE — Between a brutal conference schedule and issues with consistency, wins were difficult for the Rochelle Hub varsity baseball team to achieve during the 2024 season. But with several starters eligible to return next season, head coach Jarrod Reynolds said that a strong offseason, including a successful summer, will be the key to making forward strides in 2025.

Rochelle finished with a 7-22 overall record and an 0-15 record in the Interstate 8 Conference during the 2024 season. The Hubs, who scored nonconference wins against Dixon and Marengo as well as Sterling, Streator, Belvidere, Guilford and Harvard, saw their season close with a 10-3 loss in the IHSA 3A Regional Quarterfinals in Sterling last week. Rochelle will lose six seniors from the 2024 roster, but eight juniors and two underclassmen could return.

“We played some really good baseball at times, but we couldn’t seem to put an entire game together,” Reynolds said. “We’d have four or five innings where we’d play a team really tough, but we’d then have an inning where we’d lose control and those innings were hard to overcome. We play in a really good baseball conference that tests us and our kids gave a good effort.”

Among Rochelle’s departing seniors will be three-year varsity player Brock Metzger, who hit .265 with 10 RBIs and a team-high six doubles while ranking second on the Hubs with 30 strikeouts over 30 innings thrown on the mound. Rochelle will also lose left-hander Dylan Whaley as well as outfielder Chandler Cunningham and second baseman Braden Behrens. Senior reserves Brandt Waters and Braden Hunley are also departing from the varsity roster.

“I felt like we weren’t really overpowering from a pitching standpoint, but our kids did a good job of mixing their pitches up and changing speeds,” Reynolds said. “Brock pitched really well in the conference, specifically against Kaneland, Morris and Sycamore… Our pitchers did a good job of keeping us in ball games this year, but we didn’t hit the ball very well and I felt like our pitching had to be perfect, which was a lot to ask for. I thought our pitchers were competitive.”

Among the notable varsity starters eligible to return are juniors Carson Lewis, Brandyn Metzger and Ethan Goodwin, who combined to throw 62 innings and strike out 47 batters for the Hubs this season. Junior catcher Breydan Andrews led Rochelle with 12 RBIs in 26 games played, while junior infielder Elijah Harley appeared in 21 games before a season-ending injury. 

“We struggled with the bats and we’d like to improve in that area,” Reynolds said. “We need kids to lift weights and get stronger. Our kids play two or three sports and that’s great, but our kids need to find the time to get some swings in… We’ve had some nice offensive seasons in the past and we typically have a few kids hitting around .400, but we hit around .200 as a team.”

Rochelle’s two underclassmen, sophomore infielder Brode Metzger and freshman Brody Bruns, each turned in strong varsity seasons this spring. Metzger led the Hubs with a .321 average, 27 hits and 15 runs scored over 29 games, while the left-hander Bruns posted a team-best 3.02 ERA with 39 strikeouts over 44 innings, both of which also led the team statistically. 

“I’d like to see our returning kids have a good summer and that includes doing Hub Power and throwing about three times a week,” Reynolds said. “We want to get as many kids on the mound as we can and in our conference, almost every starter is throwing 80 MPH or higher… My biggest priorities are working with the kids on our pitching and getting more hitting reps in.”