The Rochelle varsity baseball team entered Tuesday’s game against the Geneseo Maple Leafs averaging nearly 10 runs per outing. But the Hubs struggled to solve Geneseo starting pitcher Jaren Brucher, and the Central Missouri commit nearly tossed a complete game to lead the Maple Leafs to a 7-0 victory over Rochelle.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
ROCHELLE — The Rochelle varsity baseball team entered Tuesday’s game against the Geneseo Maple Leafs averaging nearly 10 runs per outing. But the Hubs struggled to solve Geneseo starting pitcher Jaren Brucher, and the Central Missouri commit nearly tossed a complete game to lead the Maple Leafs to a 7-0 victory over Rochelle. The loss snapped Rochelle’s seven-game win streak and dropped the Hubs to 11-3 overall.
“He threw three pitches for strikes today and he threw the ball hard,” head coach Jarrod Reynolds said. “That’s probably just baseball. Sometimes the pitcher’s going to get the best of us and [Jaren] did a really good job today.”
Rochelle’s greatest scoring chance on Tuesday came in the bottom of the first inning after two players drew walks and senior Johnny Beck singled. Brucher retired back-to-back hitters with the bases loaded to escape the jam, and Geneseo turned around with four runs in the top of the second inning, including an RBI triple, to take a 4-0 lead.
Only one of those runs surrendered by senior pitcher Cody Johnson was earned, however, after two consecutive errors in the Rochelle infield allowed Geneseo to start its four-run rally.
“We just have to make routine plays,” Reynolds said. “I don’t know how many errors we had, but we gave up some unearned runs and that really hurt us.”
The Maple Leafs went ahead 6-0 with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. While Geneseo’s offense found its rhythm, the Hubs were unable to generate much, finishing the game with just three hits including two singles from Beck.
“We have to play up to our potential,” Reynolds said. “We average about 10 runs per game but we didn’t score any today. Even if we play really well, we aren’t going to win if we aren’t scoring any runs. We’ll continue working on our defense, and we have Johnny going on the mound so we think we’ll have a good shot at winning.”
Senior Noah Knight relieved Johnson in the fifth inning, tossing three innings including two scoreless frames before conceding one Geneseo run in the top of the seventh inning. Senior Zach Bernardin reached on an infield single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Geneseo pulled Brucher from the game because of his pitch count.
