For The Tribune

The offenses took center stage at a pair of Brownstown Central-Trinity Lutheran baseball games Saturday at Alf Snyder Field.

Both contests went extra innings, with the Braves winning the opener 13-12 in eight innings, and the Cougars pulled out a 5-4 win in nine in the nightcap.

Trinity had 25 hits for the day and the Braves collected 20 hits.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

Nine different players had hits for the Braves in the opener, while seven players had hits for Trinity. Eight different Cougars had hits in the second game, while five Braves had hits.

In the first game, the Braves scored five runs in the second, six in the fourth and held a 12-7 lead entering the bottom of the seventh when the Cougars scored five times to force extra innings.

Ian Martin led off the eighth inning for the Braves with a double, and was replaced by courtesy runner Clay Chastain who scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Luke Shelton.

Martin had a two-run single in the second inning, while Stuart Hayden and Shelton had two-run singles in the fourth.

Martin had three hits, including two doubles, Shelton had two hits and three RBIs, and Hayden had two RBIs.

The Cougars batted around in the bottom of the seventh and combined three hits, two walks and a hit batsman to tie the game.

Trent Shoemaker and Reid Kruse had two-run singles with Kruse’s hit driving in Shoemaker and Jake VonDielingen to tie the game.

Shoemaker had three hits and three RBIs, Kruse had two hits and two RBIs, and Brayden Wilson and Chandler Reynolds both had two hits.

The lead went back-and-forth in the second game with the Cougars taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when VonDielingen was safe on an error and scored on a single by Tyler Goecker.

Goecker had a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, and Wilson led off the fifth with Trinity’s first home run of the season with a drive over the fence in left field.

Wilson led off the ninth inning with a single and was replace by courtesy runner Sam Flint, who scored on a hit by Lawson Woods.

Wilson had three hits while Jack Marksberry, Reynolds and Shoemaker had two hits apiece

Seth Borden had singles in the fourth and fifth innings to drive in Brownstown runs, Lucas Hines drove in a run with an infield out in the fourth, had a double and scored in the sixth and singled in the eighth.

“We just kept battling back,” Cougars Coach Matt VonDielingen said. “We never gave up. We’d score a couple runs, they’d come back and take the lead and instead of hanging our heads, which is easy to do with a bunch of freshmen, we just kept fighting back.

“We kept going out there and giving it a really good effort and focusing and getting the job done. We did leave some runners on in a lot of situations but we also came through in a lot of situations. I think the mark of this freshman group is if they persevere.

“To be that competitive in the first game and only lose by one, and then to persevere in the second game and win by one is a pretty good day of baseball.”

Braves assistant coach Shannon Barger said one of the bright spots for the Braves was pitching.

“Seth battled pretty well, especially in the first game when he came in in the situation he had,” he said. “Matthew (Bell), in the first game, threw some strikes early and go us out on top. We swung the bat more aggressively.”

The Cougars had a runner on second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Borden recorded a strike out to keep the game tied.

“We’ve still got a lot of things to work on as far as defensive presence, being more aggressive on the defensive end,” Barger said. “We had a couple plays that we should have had that we didn‘t charge aggressive enough or didn’t go after hard enough. That ultimately kills you.”

He said unable to hold the lead in the first game is part of growing.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids as well as they do,” Barger said. “We’ve got to close out the game when we’ve got it in our hands, be able to throw strikes, make the plays. When you have a 12-7 lead in the seventh inning you’ve got to win that game and not have to go extra innings.”

The Cougars (4-5-1) will travel to Scottsburg today to finish the April 11 game that was called because of darkness, then will play another game. Brownstown (5-4) will host Scottsburg Thursday.