Brownstown welcomed Silver Creek to town on Monday night for a Mid-Southern Conference battle to determine who would gain the edge in the conference standings.

The Dragons were 21-5 overall, 6-0 in the MSC and on a 15-game winning streak heading into the game. The Dragons left with a record of 22-5, 7-0 in the MSC and extended their winning streak to 16 after beating the Braves 11-1 in six innings.

Most of Silver Creek’s damage came in the fourth inning. The Dragons had two outs, but then Colin Kapust hit a two-run blast over the centerfield wall to make it 5-0. Dominic Decker stepped up to the plate right after that and hit a solo shot to make it 6-0.

The Dragons weren’t done, scoring three more runs before Brownstown could get the final out of the inning.

“We had some plays there to get off the field, and like we talked about, you can’t give a good hitting team extra outs,” Braves head coach Duane Higgs said. “They did what good teams do and put us away. They were here to make a statement. They don’t want us to believe that we can beat them, whether it’s tonight or next Wednesday (in sectionals).”

Silver Creek put up two runs in the second, one in the third, six in the fourth and two in the sixth.

Brownstown got one run back in the fourth inning when Carson Darlage hit a one-out double to get on base. After an Ethan Fultz walk, Grant Killey singled to score Darlage.

Darlage, Fultz and Chick Tiemeyer all had one hit, and Killey led the team with two hits. Despite Preston Burton being one of Silver Creek’s aces, Brownstown only struck out four times and made good contact just about every time at the plate.

“Our approach to the plate has been really good,” Higgs said. “I thought we had some really good at-bats. They were really, really good defensively. Their infield is really smooth.”

Deven Cummings got the start on the mound for Brownstown and pitched two innings. Ethan Davis pitched 1.2 innings and Trent Lowery pitched 2.1 innings.

The loss drops the Braves to 14-9 on the season and ended a five-game winning streak. Brownstown is now 6-2 in the conference as well.

Winning the MSC was one of two goals the Braves had coming into this season. The second goal was to win a sectional championship, which will require topping this same Silver Creek team.

The Braves and Dragons drew one another in the Madison Sectional next Wednesday. Higgs was proud his team put itself in position to compete for the conference title on Monday.

“It was part of the goal. Our first goal was conference champion and our second goal was sectional championship and go from there,” he said. “We’re trying to change those expectations here. They’re really buying in.”

Brownstown will play at Madison Friday night, host Southwestern (Hanover) for a doubleheader Saturday and then play home against Austin in a nonconference game next Monday before getting sectionals underway.

As Silver Creek displayed on Monday, it won’t be easy to top them, but Higgs wants his team to start believing they can.

“We got to look in the mirror and believe and have the self confidence that we can be on the field with anybody,” he said. “You hope to learn tendencies and learn what they do. We just gotta to a better job challenging their hitters. They had a really good approach. They weren’t chasing out of the zone. We gotta learn that and straighten things up defensively.”