Sterling beats Princeton 12-11: Friday’s SVM roundup

Baseball

Sterling 12, Princeton 11: Sterling held on to win a thriller after trailing 11-10 with two outs in the seventh before Braden Birdsley hit a walk-off single to win it. Birdsley finished with three RBIs and Drew Nettleton had four hits and two RBIs in the home win.

DeKalb 15, Dixon 1 (5 inn.): The Dukes had just two hits while committing multiple errors in the home loss to open the season. Bryce Feit singled, scored a run and stole a base for Dixon.

Rockridge 5, Newman 3: Newman was out-hit 9-5 in the home loss as the Rockets scored four runs (three earned) against Joe Oswalt. Garrett Matznick scored two runs as five Comets had singles.

Fulton 4, Morrison 3: The Steamers scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth and held on for the home win. Dan Van Zuiden had two RBIs for Fulton.

Forreston 14, Freeport 12: The Cardinals tallied 15 hits as Carson Akins and Darin Greenfield each had three RBIs. Akins hit a home run and Greenfield tripled in the road win.

Softball

Dixon 3, Freeport 0: Allie Abell had 15 strikeouts in the road shutout for Dixon’s first win of the season. Abby Hicks had three hits, including a double, in the win.

Erie-Prophetstown 4, Rock Falls 0: The Rockets were held to just three hits in the road loss as Wynn Renkes struck out 18 in the win for E-P.

Bureau Valley 9, Amboy 3: Kiera Karlson was 2 for 3 with a single and a home run in the win.

Oregon 6, Scales Mound 0: Isabelle Berg, Brooke Halverson and Emma Schlichtmann combined to pitch a one-hitter for Oregon. Halverson also hit a home run for the Hawks.

Boys track & field

Rock Falls wins at Newman: The Rockets tallied 159.5 points to take the Newman Invitational ahead of Bureau Valley (78) and Erie-Prophetstown (68). Newman (55) took fourth, Oregon (33) was sixth and Fulton (14.5) was eighth. Adan Oquendo won the 60- and 200-meter dash for the Rockets and Gunnar Damhoff won the 3200.