Rochelle's rally grounds Rockets

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It wasn't the easiest way for Burlington Central to see its season end.

Despite belting five home runs and producing 12 hits, the fifth-seeded Rockets lost 12-11 to No. 4 seed Rochelle on Tuesday in a quarterfinal of the Class 3A Dixon Regional.

After the Rockets (15-12) had scored three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 11, Hubs senior Steve Flynn hit a walk-off single to left field with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom half to give Rochelle the victory.

"It's one of those games when we came up one hit short and came up a pitch or two short," said Central coach Kyle Nelson. "We've had pitching and pretty good defense all year and today those were the things, if anything, the two things that let us down.

"These are great kids to coach. I couldn't be prouder with the way they conducted themselves on and off the field. They won and lost with class and won and lost with pride."

Bryan Bell wasted no time putting Central on the board as he led off the game with a solo home run. Sophomore Zack Romondo followed that with a two-run homer later in the inning to give the Rockets an early 3-0 lead off of Hubs' starter Micah McCulloch.

But McCulloch retaliated by hitting a two-run double in Rochelle's half of the first to make it 3-2.

Central went back up by three runs in the top of the third when sophomore Austin Jarvis hit his first of two homers on the day, a two-run shot to make it 5-2.

The Hubs (13-19) scored seven runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a commanding 9-5 lead. The big blow came when Dan Ruppenthal hit a one-out grand slam off Rockets starter George Heller (5-2).

Highlighted by Jarvis' second home run of the game, Central got back to within one run at 9-8 in the top of the fifth.

Rochelle answered right back with two more in the bottom of the sixth to take yet another three-run lead at 11-8. Ryan Mattes hit the Rockets' fifth and final homer of the game in the top of the seventh when he connected on a one-out shot to right-center.

With runners at second and third and two outs, Bell came through with a single to tie the game at 11 before Rochelle won the game in the bottom half.

"I had a good feeling about him going in there," Nelson said. "He's been outstanding and has been our leader all year. That's what senior leaders do. They come up big in those situations."

Rochelle advances to take on No. 1 seed Sycamore Wednesday in Dixon.