ROCHELLE — Head coach Jarrod Reynolds pointed to pitching depth and defense as two key strengths of the Rochelle Hub baseball team, which opened the 2025 season with its first official practice this past Monday. As the season moves forward, Reynolds will be looking for continued improvements on the offensive end, where the Hubs registered a .206 batting average last year. 

Rochelle is seeking to improve on a 7-22 overall record last season, when the Hubs finished sixth in the Interstate 8 and went 0-15 in conference action. On the mound, Rochelle welcomes back several talented pitchers including sophomore left-hander Brody Bruns, who was named an All-Conference Honorable Mention after posting a team-low 3.02 ERA and 39 strikeouts. 

“We have an interesting mix of seniors, sophomores and juniors,” Reynolds said. “I think we’re a bit more talented than we’ve been over the past couple of years. We did exit velocities last week and a lot of our varsity kids were in the mid 80s, which is an improvement. From a pitching standpoint, I think we’re going to throw the ball harder than we have the past few years.”

Seniors Carson Lewis, Ethan Goodwin and Brandyn Metzger are also expected to throw innings and play significant roles in the field for the Hubs, who will tee off their season with a road game against Genoa-Kingston on March 19. Among the top hitters returning from last season will be junior infielder Brode Metzger, who led Rochelle with a .321 average last year.

“I think our pitching is deeper than we’ve been recently,” Reynolds said. “I think we have eight or nine guys who can go out there and be competitive for us. Brode was our leading hitter last year and he’s only a junior, which we’re really excited about… I think we have a lot of flexibility and I think we’re pretty athletic. Our pitching depth is a strength and we should be better on defense.”

Junior Van Gerber and a crew of sophomores, including Andrew Huerta, Dylan Manning and Jonathan Andrist, are newcomers to watch for as the Hubs take the field this season. Senior Ryan Senne returns from last season and will be a player to watch behind the plate at catcher. Rochelle will open Interstate 8 play with a three-game series against Sycamore on April 14.

“I really hope to see our offense improve,” Reynolds said. “That was a big struggle for us and I’d like to see that improve. We don’t talk about batting average much. We talk more about quality at-bats and getting on base and those are things we’re really going to emphasize… It’s a tough conference, but I think we should be able to do better than we did last year. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to play more of our nonconference games because I think that will help our record.”

Among the nonconference opponents on Rochelle’s schedule are Genoa-Kingston, Freeport, Boylan, Belvidere North, Marmion Academy, Belvidere, Princeton, Auburn, Streator, Guilford, Sterling, Forreston, Marengo, Dixon, Harvard and DeKalb. Rochelle will play 15 Interstate 8 games across five three-game sets with Sycamore, Kaneland, Morris, LaSalle-Peru and Ottawa.