Receiving special honors at Brownstown Central’s baseball awards program were, from left, Lane Steward, Trent Lowery and Ethan Garland. Missing were Carson Darlage and Ethan Fultz.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Postseason awards and honors keep coming for Carson Darlage of the Brownstown Central baseball team.
Darlage was named the Braves’ most valuable player for the recently completed season during the team’s awards program held in the school cafeteria Monday night.
Darlage also received the hitting award and was named to the all-Mid-Southern Conference team and to the baseball coaches association academic all-state team.
He also was named to all-sectional and all-district teams and recently was named The Tribune’s Co-Baseball Player of the Year.
This season, Darlage batted .471 with 40 hits, including seven doubles, two triples and four home runs, had 32 RBI and scored 39 runs. He had an on-base percentage of .741 and an on-base slugging percentage of 1.103.
On the mound, he had a record of 5-0 with 38.1 innings, 69 strikeouts and a 2.91 ERA. He started eight games, including a one-hitter and a no-hitter.
Darlage was the Braves’ starting pitcher in the regional win and in the semistate game.
“He did a lot for what we were doing,” head coach Duane Higgs said. “Carson Darlage, without a doubt, was our go-to guy. He was the guy we gave the ball to. We put a lot of trust in him, and I hope if you are younger and you’re sitting in here (cafeteria), that is what you strive to be. You want to be playing your best ball as a senior. When he did fail, he showed some emotion. If he went 0-for-4, he still wanted to win. At the end of the day, we achieved a lot of great things due to this man’s success on the baseball field.”
Darlage and Ethan Fultz were the two seniors on the roster this spring.
Fultz was the recipient of the mental attitude award.
Higgs said it takes good senior leadership to have a successful program, and both seniors filled the bill in that area.
“(Fultz) battled through a lot of adversity,” Higgs said. “Not everything went his way, but he always remained very positive in the dugout and was always one of the first ones out to encourage his teammates and keep the dugout rolling.”
Ethan Garland received the pitching award.
“(Garland) just battles and battles,” Higgs said. “He’s not going to blow it by anybody, but he knows how to pitch. I will take those type of kids in varsity baseball any day of the week when you have that mental toughness and you can locate and change speeds.”
Garland also was named to the MSC first team, and Trent Lowery was named honorable mention.
Garland and Pierson Wheeler also were named to the all-sectional team.
Lane Steward was named the most improved junior varsity player.
The Braves had a record of 24-9, and that win total tied the school record. The Braves won the third sectional in school history by beating Austin in the championship game of the Austin Sectional.
Higgs said beating Floyd Central 7-3 on the Highlanders’ diamond April 28 was a huge win and confidence builder going forward.
“We reached a high level,” he said. “You have success when you do things the right way. We put Brownstown on the map.”
The Braves defeated Providence 7-3 on the Highlanders’ field on June 5 to win the regional.
Garland, Lowery, Chick Tiemeyer and Dalton Reedy received their letter jackets.
“We had a great month of May, and we had a great month of June,” Higgs said. “We have kids coming back that can have a lot of success in the next couple of years.”