ROCHELLE — Although Rochelle finished without a win in the Interstate 8 Conference this season, the Hubs have fared well against their nonconference opponents. That trend continued on Saturday, when the varsity baseball team hosted a nonconference doubleheader with Dixon.

Sophomore Johnny Andrist spun a complete game and struck out seven batters in the opener for the Hubs, who held off the Dukes for a 4-3 win before holding off a late rally to take the finale 7-6 and sweep their home doubleheader. Senior Carson Lewis recorded four hits and two RBIs across both games for the Hubs (9-18, 0-15 Interstate 8), who improved to 9-3 in nonconference play this season. Rochelle will resume nonconference action at Forreston on Monday evening.

“It’s a big confidence boost because we’ve had some tough losses over the last few weeks,” Lewis said. “My big focus has been putting the ball in play… When you make contact, it gives you a better opportunity to get on base and I’ve been finding the holes in the defense. My goal is to get on base so I can help get the offense rolling. If I have two strikes, I’ll just try to put the ball in play, but on the first couple of pitches, I’m looking to hit the ball pretty hard if I can.”

Game 1

Sophomore Brody Bruns belted a two-run homer to right-center in the bottom of the first inning to give the Hubs a 2-0 lead in the opening game. Andrist and the Hubs stranded four Dixon baserunners over the first two frames, with the sophomore pitcher picking off Eli Kirckoff in the first before striking out three batters to escape the second. Rochelle smacked three consecutive singles in the bottom of the third, where junior Brode Metzger’s RBI knock put the Hubs up 3-0.

“It was huge because we haven’t had a good season in conference, but those nonconference games have helped to keep our hopes up,” Metzger said. “We have a really good conference and we hung with a few teams, but we know that our nonconference teams aren’t like the teams we face in our conference, which gives us the confidence to come out and beat them. They didn’t throw their best pitchers at us, but we sat back and drove the ball. We hit well as a team.”

A one-out single from Jagger Kemp led to a sacrifice fly from Jack Redell in the top of the fourth inning for the Dukes (12-12, 9-8 Big Northern), who trailed 4-1 after Lewis blasted a two-out RBI double to deep right-center in the bottom of the fourth inning. Dixon fought back in the top of the fifth inning, where Jake Whelan ripped a one-out RBI triple before scoring on an infield error.

The Dukes had a chance to even the score in the top of the sixth inning, moving the tying run to third base after an outfield error and a sacrifice bunt. But Andrist, who struck out two batters over the sixth and seventh innings to help the Hubs preserve their victory, induced a popup to first base that ended the frame. Brady Feit drew a one-out walk in the top of the seventh, but an out on a steal attempt led to a groundout that sealed the first win of the day for the Hubs.

“We’ve been on a losing streak, so to get two close wins was big,” Andrist said. “We’ve been struggling with errors in the last two innings of games, so to close those two games out was a big step for us. I can throw my fastball hard enough to throw it by some people and when I can do that, the game gets pretty easy. There are some good teams coming up, so if we have more pitchers who are able to go five or more innings… I think that will be really important for us.”

Game 2

Sophomore Andrew Huerta took the ball to start the finale, throwing five and two-thirds innings while striking out seven batters and holding Dixon to three earned runs. The Hubs, who totaled 10 hits in the second game of the doubleheader, held a 2-0 lead after RBI singles from Brody Bruns in the bottom of the first inning and Carson Lewis in the bottom of the second inning.

“It was great to have two more wins on the record,” Huerta said. “We hit the ball pretty well, but our pitching was definitely great, too. I was sitting in the strike zone and I’ve had a hard time doing that this year. We need to keep hitting the ball hard and we need to work on our defense. We’ve been putting the ball in play a lot and we haven’t been striking out, which is good for us.”

Eli Kirchoff’s RBI double in the top of the third inning brought the Dukes within one run entering the bottom half of the third, where Rochelle rallied for two runs on three singles to surge ahead 4-1. Senior Brandyn Metzger slapped a lead-off single before Brode Metzger singled two batters later to put two runners on base. After Huerta reached on an infield single to score Brandyn Metzger, sophomore Dylan Manning plated Brode Metzger with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Rochelle extended its lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, where sophomore Marcus Hansen, making his varsity debut on Saturday, ripped a two-run single into left field to cap off a three-run frame that put the Hubs ahead 7-1. Brode Metzger added an RBI single in the fifth inning for the Hubs, who saw their lead cut down to three after Dixon tallied three runs on five hits in the top of the sixth inning. Brady Lawrence sparked the three-run frame with a solo homer to right center.

The Dukes had a chance to continue their rally, but senior pitcher Ethan Goodwin, who relieved Huerta in the sixth inning, and the Hub defense turned a 5-3 double play to escape the jam. Dixon threatened again in the top of the seventh inning, where Lawrence smacked an RBI single and scored on a wild pitch three batters later to bring the Dukes within one run with two outs in the frame. With the tying runner on third base after the wild pitch, Goodwin induced a groundout to the pitcher’s mound that ended the game and clinched Rochelle’s sweep.