They were on their home turf, but the Rock Island Rocks were the visitors on the scoreboard for Saturday's Western Big 6 baseball doubleheader with United Township.

Heavy rains late Friday and early Saturday forced the twinbill to be switched from the UTHS diamond to Rocky's field, as well as pushing back the starting time two hours, but it didn't affect the Rocks any as they stormed to a 6-0, 15-2 sweep of the Panthers.

``It was a little bit different (being the visitors at home), but it didn't really bother us. We just had to go out and play ball,'' said Rock Island junior pitcher Clayton George, whose three-hit shutout in the first game helped send the 14-11 Rocks on to the sweep and a 6-2 WB6 mark.

With Moline's conference doubleheader at Alleman being postponed due to wet conditions at Douglas Park, that means Rocky moves to within a game in the standings of the Big 6-leading Maroons (6-0 in league play).

Rock Island cranked out 13 hits off UTHS pitcher Josh McCormick (3-3) in the opener. Proving that wasn't a fluke, the Rocks nearly melted down the aluminum in the nightcap with 17 hits off a trio of Panther hurlers, including starter Chad VanVoltenburg (2-3).

``Our guys work hard at having a good approach at the plate,'' said Rock Island coach Andy Campbell, whose squad exploded for an eight-run second inning in the second game, sending 12 batters to the plate and taking the fire out of UT (14-11, 2-6 WB6).

``We were fortunate in that we had a lot of balls hit the spots, but that's something that starts with the guys' approach in practice and in the batting cage,'' Campbell continued. ``They have a good understanding of what they need to do.''

In the other dugout, first-year United Township coach Jason VanHoutte was left searching for answers for his club, which has now dropped nine of its last 10 games.

``We haven't played well the last 10 games, which is something we've got to get over mentally,'' he stated. ``We've been working on our fielding, our hitting... it's been mostly mental.

``I wish our first 15 games were filmed. Then we can go back and watch them. We were a good baseball team then.''

In the first game, Rock Island struck for its first run in the first inning when Marcus Youngquist (3-for-4) singled to score Jake Meisenbach. A second-inning Nick Carmack sacrifice fly scored Steve Mumma (2-for-4) to up the lead to 2-0.

Those runs would be enough for George (4-1), who allowed just one walk and singles to UT's John Shappard, Josh Lampe and Scott Durbin while striking out eight in seven innings.

``I felt strong the whole way,'' said the 6-foot-5 right-hander. ``My fastball was working for me today. I was hitting the spots and the corners real well, and the umpires were giving me the corner.''

The Rocks sealed the first-game win with four runs in the top of the fourth, sending nine batters to the plate. Meisenbach (2-for-4) had a two-run double, while Carmack and Jake Vroman each had RBI singles.

The second game started out in United Township's favor, as the Panthers put up two runs in the bottom of the first off Rocky starter Mumma (3-1). The inning started with back-to-back singles by Brian LaJeone (2-for-3) and Shappard before Lampe (also 2-for-3) singled to score LaJeone.

McCormick's one-out single scored Shappard, but Ben Sacco's groundball was turned into a double play when Lampe was thrown out at home, then interfered with Rocky catcher Meisenbach as he tried to throw out Sacco at first.

``We jumped on them early, and we could've had more,'' lamented VanHoutte. ``After that interference, we came off the field with a bad feeling.''

Said Campbell of the interference call, ``We were very fortunate. If UT gets more runs, and their emotions get more involved, you never know what can happen.''

That bad feeling reared up in the second when the Rocks went on their eight-run tear, fueled by a two-run single from Dan Morrison (2-for-4, four RBIs after getting two hits in the first game), an RBI triple from Carmack (3-for-4) and Vroman's RBI single.

Vroman collected two hits and two RBIs in the nightcap, as did Meisenbach. Jason Amble went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and George drove in a pair of runs.