SYCAMORE — The Rochelle Hubs rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the score during their Interstate 8 varsity baseball series opener against Sycamore on Monday.

Rochelle tallied six hits and smacked four straight run-scoring singles to erase a sizable deficit and tie the game during the top of the seventh inning. Sycamore earned the last laugh, though, with Jackson MacDonald belting a game-winning RBI double to bring home Kyle Prebil and give the Spartans a 12-11 walk-off victory over the Hubs. Rochelle (4-3, 0-1 Interstate 8) recorded 18 hits in the loss. The Hubs will continue their series with Sycamore at home on Wednesday.

Senior Carson Lewis opened the game with a lead-off double in the top of the first inning. Lewis, who went 4 for 5 with two RBIs, scored on a fielder’s choice grounder from sophomore Brody Bruns to give Rochelle a 1-0 lead. Sycamore tied the game after Prebil launched a solo homer over the left-field wall in the bottom of the first inning. Rochelle notched three singles in the top of the second inning, where the Hubs tacked on three runs to retake the lead in the game.

Trailing 4-2, Sycamore responded with one run on an RBI triple from Henry Hamingson in the bottom of the second inning. Action continued in the top of the third inning, where RBI singles from sophomore Andrew Huerta and junior Gavin Neale highlighted a four-hit frame for the Hubs, who tallied two runs to take a 6-2 lead. The Spartans answered quickly, as Davis Collie crushed a solo homer and Nathan Lojko added an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning.

Senior Brandyn Metzger kept the Rochelle offense moving, sending an RBI single to shallow left center in the top of the fourth inning. Metzger went 3 for 5 with three singles for the Hubs, who led 7-4 until Collie blasted his second homer of the game, a three-run shot to deep center, to bring the Spartans to a tie in the bottom of the fourth inning. Back-to-back homers from Lojko and Collie, his third of the game, allowed Sycamore to surge ahead 11-7 in the fifth inning.

Needing four runs to tie and five runs to take the lead, Rochelle rallied for six singles in the top of the seventh inning. With one out in the frame, the Hubs slapped four consecutive RBI singles courtesy of Neale, sophomore Dylan Manning, Lewis and junior Brode Metzger. Facing an 11-11 tie, Sycamore scored the final run in the bottom of the seventh, where Prebil drew a one-out walk before advancing on a wild pitch and scoring on MacDonald’s walk-off double to center.

Neale went 3 for 3 with two RBIs, while Huerta and Manning each went 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI in the loss. Senior Ethan Goodwin went 2 for 5 and pitched four and two-thirds innings on the mound, striking out five batters while walking one.