BROWNSTOWN — The Brownstown Central baseball team took different paths to defeat Trinity Lutheran in a doubleheader Saturday.

In the opener, the Braves used a bunt hit by Ethan Garland, followed by a double and an RBI by Carson Darlage for a run in the fifth inning for a 1-0 win.

In the second game, the Braves had multiple base runners in five different innings and scored twice in the first inning, four times in the second and three in the fifth to cruise to a 9-2 victory.

“Our pitching and defense have been real solid. It has been that way for most of the year. We’ve had a few hiccups here and there,” Braves coach Duane Higgs said. “Garland looked really good. He has looked good as a starter. Then (Ethan) Fultz came in and he has been doing what he has been doing, and Darlage had another great start, and it was nice to mix (Trent) Lowery in a little bit to give him a little work, so we finished up and we did what we had to do.”

Garland pitched the first 5.2 innings in the first game and allowed four hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Fultz finished up and didn’t give up any hits, and neither pitcher walked anybody.

Darlage pitched the first four innings of the nightcap and allowed two hits, struck out seven and walked four. Lowery pitched two innings and had four strikeouts and gave up one hit and had one walk.

Garland, Darlage and Jaxson Johnson had singles and Dalton Reedy had a double for the Braves in the opener.

Nathan Voelker, Andrew Bell and Drake Goodpaster had singles and Sage Broughton had a double for the Cougars.

Kowan Gross pitched for the Cougars and allowed four hits and one run, had six strikeouts and walked four.

Trinity coach Ben Kleber said he liked Gross’ performance.

“That’s two (strong performances) in a row for Kowan. He has been doing a good job. When he gets ahead, he is very effective. If he falls behind like the rest of our guys, he struggles. I was glad to see him get out of the first inning,” Kleber said. “That seems to be something that he really struggles with, so I was happy to see him get through the first and settle in, and he held them to one run. That was a good baseball team he held to the one run, so I’m happy with that.”

The Braves took advantage of Voelker’s wildness at the start of the second game. He had a blister on his pitching hand and hit four batters and walked one in the first inning. Darlage and Lowery were both hit by pitch and scored in the first inning.

The Braves batted around in the second inning against two pitchers and scored four times.

Lane Pendleton led off with a walk, Garland singled and Darlage doubled to score both runners. Lowery walked and Pierson Wheeler singled to drive in one run, and Johnson hit into a fielder’s choice to score the fourth run of the inning.

The top of the order came through again in the fifth, and Garland started things with his second home run of the season. Darlage and Lowery had singles and Wheeler and Fultz walked with the bases loaded to force in the final two runs.

Garland said it was one of his better days in a Brownstown baseball uniform.

“I was focused on the mound after not pitching very well against Austin. My two-seam fastball and my curveball, they weren’t striking out, but they were grounding out a lot, and my defense was behind me and helped me out,” he said. “I asked the coach if I should bunt (in the fifth) because I had bunted for a hit before that. He said, ‘No, you need to hit better.’ So I went up there and hit the ball and got a good hit. I hit one out my sophomore year, and this year, I’ve hit one. I was hunting for a fastball, and I got it.”

Kleber said he was proud to see his team battle to the end as they scored twice in the top of the seventh.

Peyton Pollert singled and Cole Brewer was hit by a pitch. Gross singled to drive in Pollert, and Nathan Finke hit into a fielder’s choice to score the second run.

“The first game, we had runners on base a lot. We just couldn’t get that big hit. Cole Brewer came in in the sixth with two runners on and hit a really good ball to right-center and the wind knocked it down, and that’s just how it worked today with the wind and everything,” Kleber said. “We had glimpses of having really good approaches to the plate, and then I think once we got down with the 6-0 start in the second game, we kind of started expanding the zone, so I’d like to see us have a better approach than that. I was happy to see them fight to the end and put a couple or runs on the board in the seventh, so hopefully, we can carry that over into next week.”

In the second game, Garland had two hits and one RBI and scored two runs, Darlage had two hits and two RBI, Lowery scored three runs and had a hit, Wheeler had a hit and three RBI, Johnson had an RBI and Pendleton scored a run.

Higgs said, “We took advantage (of their pitching) a little bit. Obviously, they had some walks (seven) and hit batters (six), then we started squaring the ball up a little bit. The scouting report is out and we’re struggling a little bit with the curve, so we’ve got to make some adjustments and keep on working.”

Luke Coomler had two hits for the Cougars, Jackson Trueblood, Pollert and Brewer all had one hit and scored runs and Gross had an RBI.

The Braves are 9-4 and will host Lanesville on Tuesday. Trinity (5-7) will play at Scottsburg on Tuesday.