Carrying a 25-10 record and No. 2 seed into the Class AA Rock Island Regional, Campbell's Rocks seemed to be a huge favorite over No. 12-seeded Sterling.

However, it was the Warriors who left celebrating while the Rocks were wondering what happened after a 6-3 Sterling win Saturday.

In the second game, No. 8 seed Geneseo broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh to beat No. 11 United Township 4-3.

The Maple Leafs (16-14) and Golden Warriors (15-19) will square off for the regional crown Monday morning at 10 at Rock Island.

``When you get into the tournament, it's the teams that do the little things who come out on top,'' said Campbell. ``They made the pitches when they had to; they got the hits when they had to; and they made the plays in the field when they had to. That's what makes baseball so much fun.''

-- Sterling 6, RI 3: The Warriors used a bit of success earlier this season against the Rocks to give them all the motivation they would need. Sterling lost a regular-season game to Rock Island, but took the Rocks to extra innings.

``We came in here believing we could play with these guys,'' said Sterling pitcher Brandon Luebke, who drove in three runs while holding the Rocks down on the mound. ``Coming to Rock Island and beating them on their field is huge. I just tried to throw strikes and let my defense bail me out.''

The Warriors certainly did that, especially shortstop Kyle Ferger who ended two Rock Island rallies with stellar plays.

``We wanted our seniors to step up and be leaders,'' said Sterling coach Darwin Kettleson. ``Luebtke was great on the mound and with the bat and Ferger made a couple of huge plays. The biggest thing we did was keep Rock Island out of any big innings.''

Sterling broke a scoreless tie with a run off RI starter Andrew Tarnow (5-3) in the fourth. Then, Rock Island made one physical error and a couple mental errors to open the floodgates in the fifth as Sterling scored three more runs with only one hit.

``We misplayed a bunt that really got the inning started,'' said Campbell.

Rock Island tried to make it exciting with single runs in the fifth and sixth -- leaving the bases loaded in the fifth.

Sterling got two big runs back in the seventh when Luebke doubled home a pair.

-- Geneseo 4, UTHS 3: First Kyle Brudos kept his team in the game with one big pitch in relief. Then, the Maple Leafs star tied it with an RBI double in the fifth and won it with an RBI hit in the seventh.

After UT had rallied to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, Brudos relieved Brandon Martins and got a double-play ball to end the inning.

``I like to come in cold with no warmups,'' said Brudos. ``I just throw strikes and try to get outs as fast as possible.''

Leafs' coach Darin Pardoe expected a tough game despite UT's 4-25 record.

``First, all the guys had to look at was the first game,'' he said. ``Rock Island losing is enough to give everyone else in the tournament belief they can win it. Plus, we saw UT earlier this season and they aren't that bad.''

After Geneseo tied it, UT stole the momentum back in the sixth when Mark Ramos pitched his way out of a second and third with no outs jam, thanks to a sliding catch at the backstop by Panther catcher Cody Moliterno.

Ben Boore then opened the seventh with a single, but Kyle Dirk's bunt try turned into a double play when he lined the ball to the first baseman.

``I think Kyle got a little greedy,'' said UT coach Jason VanHoutte. ``He saw the second baseman moving so much, he might have thought about pushing the bunt for a hit instead of just getting the sacrifice. That gave the momentum right back to Geneseo.''