PERU — The Rochelle Little League 10-12 Baseball All-Stars dropped two hard-fought games to conclude the Illinois Little League Section 4 Championship at Washington Park this past weekend. Rochelle fell by a score of 7-6 against Tri Cities on Friday before losing 9-8 against Streator on Saturday to finish third with a 1-2 record in the sectional tournament.

Tri Cities

Breydan Andrews started on the mound for Rochelle, throwing two and two-third innings and allowing only one run and one hit with one strikeout. Brandyn Metzger closed the game, striking out three batters over one and one-third innings. Brode Metzger and Eli Koonce combined to throw one and two-thirds innings with only one hit allowed.

Rochelle scored three runs in the top of the first inning to take an early 3-0 lead. Ethan Goodwin singled and scored on an RBI single from Elijah Harley, and Andrews sent a two-run single to left-center field that plated Kaiden Morris and Harley. Tri Cities tied the game 3-3 with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and one run in the third inning.

Carson Lewis singled to begin the fourth inning, with Dalton Merriman walking and Goodwin delivering a two-run single up the middle to put Rochelle ahead 5-3 in the top of the fourth inning. Tri Cities countered with one run in the bottom half before Brandyn Metzger doubled and scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 6-4 in the top of the fifth inning. Tri Cities evened the game with two runs in the bottom half before walking off with an RBI single in the sixth inning.

Streator

Brandyn Metzger tossed three innings and struck out two batters to close the game for Rochelle, with Carson Lewis and Grant Gensler combining to throw two innings with two strikeouts. Streator scored one run in the first inning before Rochelle plated three runs to go ahead 3-1 in the top of the second inning. Brode Metzger singled and scored on a fielder’s choice from Dalton Merriman, and Brandyn Metzger doubled before scoring on an RBI single by Lewis. Ethan Goodwin followed with an RBI single of his own.

Streator’s five-run second inning put Rochelle behind 6-3, and Streator added three runs in the third inning to go ahead 9-3. Xavier Villalobos singled and scored on Goodwin’s RBI double in the fourth inning, and Rochelle plated two more runs in the fifth inning on a two-run double to center field from Lewis.

Elijah Harley’s sacrifice fly cut the Streator lead to 9-7 in the sixth inning, and Brandyn Metzger’s RBI single to short scored Goodwin. Rochelle had two runners on base with two outs in the frame, but Streator ended the game with a strikeout to preserve the win.