Brownstown’s magical season ends against Covenant Christian in semistate

MOORESVILLE — As Brownstown Central head coach Duane Higgs addressed his team following a season-ending loss in the semistate semifinal, he made one thing clear as the Braves broke huddle.

“Keep your heads up.”

No one was happy with Saturday’s 12-8 loss to Covenant Christian, who will be playing for the Class 2A state title this weekend, but what Brownstown was able to accomplish this season was anything but a disappointment.

“Just awfully proud of them,” Higgs said. “Like I told them, it’s arguably the greatest team to ever put on this uniform, so they have a lot to be proud of.”

Saturday at Mooresville High School was the first time a Brownstown Central baseball team competed in the semistate, and after a rocky start, the Braves did what they’ve been doing all postseason — respond.

Covenant Christian got on the board first as Nolan Moore hit a leadoff double. Brad Nardi got an infield single, and then as he tried to steal second base, a wild throw over Chick Tiemeyer’s head allowed Moore to come around and score.

Nardi advanced to third base on the error, and then Ethan Kimmerle bunted down the first base line to score Nardi.

There were bases loaded with two outs, but then Carson Darlage came up with a strikeout to keep the damage at 2-0 after one. Darlage threw 34 pitches in the first inning.

The Warriors added two more runs in the second inning, and Brownstown was staring at an early 4-0 deficit, but one swing of the bat changed that.

Grayson Cassidy led off the bottom of the second by getting hit by a pitch, and then Pierson Wheeler singled. With two outs, Lane Pendleton dove head first into first base to beat out a throw and load the bases.

Tiemeyer then drew a walk to score Lane Steward, who pinch ran for Cassidy, and with still bases loaded and two outs, Ethan Garland hit a grand slam to left field to put the Braves up 5-4.

“It was a good moment, and that’s what we do,” Higgs said. “These guys have a lot of heart, and we never felt sorry for ourselves the entire game. It’s easy to come out and quit, and these guys don’t quit.”

After both teams went scoreless in the third inning, Covenant Christian teetered back in front in the top of the fourth after Kimmerle hit a double down the right field line to score Moore and Nardi to give the Warriors a 6-5 lead.

The top of the fifth inning is when Covenant put a strong grip on the game. The Warriors scored five runs in the inning to take an 11-5 lead. Some miscues by Brownstown’s defense took away easy outs, and Covenant was able to capitalize.

“We weren’t sharp defensively, unfortunately. We’ve been sharp all postseason, and today, we had an off day. It was bad timing from our end, but you’ve got to give them credit,” Higgs said. “They were well-prepared for what we had to offer, and I told the boys all week, ‘That team plays a heck of a schedule.’ At the end of the day, they weren’t going to see anything that they hadn’t seen all year, so we had to execute, and we didn’t execute on some plays.”

Brownstown got one run back in the bottom of the fifth when Trent Lowery grounded out to score Garland.

A wild pitch allowed Covenant to get one more run in the top of the sixth, and then Brownstown had a mini rally in the bottom of the seventh.

Darlage singled to score Pendleton, and then Lowery hit a sacrifice fly to score Garland. That was all BC could score in the final inning as Covenant won 12-8.

“We showed it early and little bit late, but we just put ourselves in too big of a hole late to come back,” Higgs said.

Covenant (16-15) beat Heritage Christian 10-6 Saturday night to advance to the state championship this week, where they will take on Illiana Christian.

The Braves ended their season with an overall record of 24-9 and a lot of milestones for the program.

They won just the third sectional championship by beating Austin and won the program’s first regional title by beating Providence in extra innings.

The two seniors on the roster were Darlage and Ethan Fultz, and Higgs gives a lot of credit to those two.

“Going into sectional, you had the two seniors that were so focused on winning, and it trickled down,” Higgs said. “That’s why we were in this position today. They deserve all the credit in the world to be great leaders and set a great example of what seniors, especially in the springtime, need to be like if you’re going to finish strong.”

As valuable as Darlage and Fultz were, only losing two seniors means the Braves will be bringing back a majority of the roster for next season, and the experience gained getting to this point in the postseason was invaluable.

“The biggest thing is the experience and the grind of a season and the toughness you have to have,” Higgs said. “You’re going to have ups and downs throughout a baseball season because you play so much in a short period of time. It’s understanding how it works and the process, not getting too high or too low.”

For Higgs, who finished his second season at Brownstown, he enjoyed watching this team grow throughout the season and hopes the Braves continue to grow.

“It’s always fun to watch that process and watch these kids mature not just physically but mentally and emotionally and develop into a really good baseball team,” he said. “At times, we didn’t show it today, but we were a really good baseball team. That’s what I enjoy as a coach is to watch that in practice and see it translate into a game and see how it works and putting all the pieces together.”