Carter Hunter leads Rock Falls with three hits in loss to North Boone

Rock Falls senior Carter Hunter wants to see more passion from his team. After an 8-3 Big Northern Conference home loss to North Boone on Tuesday, the Rockets had missed opportunities offensively and defensively.

“I don’t think we came prepared,” said Hunter, who led the team with three of its seven hits. “They beat us. They swing the bat really well, they don’t strike out a lot and they’ve got some good pitchers.”

The Rockets (8-7, 6-4 BNC) left the bases loaded twice in the game, including when the contest ended with a strikeout looking.

The Vikings (11-10, 6-4) tallied 13 hits and scored three unearned runs off RF’s two errors.

North Boone’s pitchers got out of jams when they needed to, offsetting seven walks with 11 strikeouts. Sophomore starting pitcher Rhyder Jewell struck out seven in four scoreless innings to get the win, allowing just three hits and four walks.

Hunter said beating themselves has been a problem for the Rockets this season, but the Vikings were the better team Tuesday.

“They are a good baseball team, we’ve just got to come a little more prepared next time,” he said.

The Vikings led 6-0 in the top of the fifth inning before an Owen Laws RBI triple and Owen Mandrell RBI single got the Rockets on the board in the bottom half.

Hunter scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh, but the Rockets’ could not rally against the Vikings’ third pitcher of the game.

Jake Neri had three hits and two RBIs for the Vikings. Self, Landon Hahn and Leo Ovalle all had two hits.

Rock Falls has a chance to bounce back with a road matchup at North Boone on Thursday.

“I think we’ve got to take it to heart a little bit more, not a lot of people on this team want to just come out and stick it to them,” Hunter said. “We need more passion.”

The bottom five hitters of the Rock Falls order were a combined 1 for 11 with four walks.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind that we have a whole lineup of kids that can hit the baseball,” Hunter said. “It’s more about the hard contact, just trying not to strikeout.”

Rock Falls coach Donnie Chappell said there were plays left on the field defensively, even if they weren’t errors.

“We just continue to beat ourselves,” he said. “We get guys in scoring position and we don’t put the ball in play. We’re just not doing the things we should be doing.”

Rock Falls starter Ethan Moeller kept the team within striking distance, pitching 3⅔ innings with three runs (one earned) allowed. Hunter allowed three runs (two earned) in 2⅓ innings, and Connor Fritz allowed two runs in the seventh.

Rock Falls’ Ethan Moeller fires a pitch against North Boone Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Alex T. Paschal)

“We put ourselves in holes defensively,” Chappell said. “Our pitchers were good enough to win, but we can’t make simple plays and we make things hard on ourselves. We can’t do that.”

Chappell said playing sound defense is the biggest key for the team.

“We don’t score enough runs to make up for it,” he said. “High school baseball games are lost, not won. And we beat ourselves today.”

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