Solid outings from freshman Brody Bruns and junior Brandyn Metzger weren’t enough for the Rochelle Hub varsity baseball team on Wednesday evening, when the purple and white continued their Interstate 8 Conference series against the LaSalle-Peru Cavaliers.

Bruns tossed the first four innings and struck out four batters while holding LaSalle-Peru to two earned runs on four hits. Metzger followed with two innings of relief, limiting the Cavaliers to one earned run on one hit with one strikeout. But the Hubs were unable to generate much offense on Wednesday, finishing with only four hits in a 3-1 loss. Rochelle (4-15, 0-11 Interstate 8) will attempt to avoid its fourth straight conference sweep during the series finale on Thursday.

Jack Jereb singled and scored on a wild pitch to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Seth Adams hit a one-out single before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Jacob Gross in the bottom of the third inning, allowing LaSalle-Peru to surge ahead 2-0. The Cavaliers went ahead 3-0 after an RBI single from Alex Galindo in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Rochelle avoided the shutout with one run on two hits in the top of the seventh inning, where juniors Carson Lewis and Brandyn Metzger smacked back-to-back singles to start the frame. Lewis eventually scored on a fielder’s choice grounder from senior Chandler Cunningham.