The Austin baseball team was playing like a team that wants to compete against Rochester Century at Dick Seltz Field Thursday and it certainly showed up on the scoreboard.

The Packers won an 18-17 thriller over Century in game one of a doubleheader, that included a big day for Gasner brothers, Nik and Dylan. Then, in the nightcap, Austin led 8-2 after five innings before play was stopped due to rain.

If the nightcap’s final score holds, the Packers have now won three games in a row and four of their last five. It wasn’t certain Thursday night whether the Panthers (9-5 overall) would come back to Austin to play the last two innings of the contest, which was a non-conference matchup.

“You can tell by the energy level of the boys that they’re starting to feel that they have the ability to win these games,” Austin head coach Chris Gogolewski said. “You can tell in the dugout the guys are light hearted and they’re having fun playing ball.”

The Packers (4-9 overall, 2-8 Big Nine) showed they can play with one of the better teams in the Big Nine Thursday as Austin racked up 23 hits in 12 innings of baseball.

Nik Gasner hit a three-run homer over the 400-foot center field fence in the first inning of the opener and he blasted a grand slam over the left field fence in the first inning of the nightcap. He finished the day 4-for-5 with 10 RBIs.

“I was seeing the ball real well today and I think they left me a couple of solid pitches to hit,” Nik said. “The team just motivated me really well today.”

Austin’s first game was a roller coaster ride. The Packers took an 11-3 lead in the fourth after Nik and Ryan McCormack had back-to-back two out, two run singles, but Century stormed back to score 10 runs in the top of the sixth to go up 16-13.

Instead of folding, Austin bounced back in the bottom of the sixth as Dylan Gasner hit a two-out double to deep center to score two runs and put Austin up 17-16 and Nate Conner singled in another run to make it 18-16.

“I just wanted to try and drive in runs for the team to get us that win. This was a big game for us and they’re a good team,” said Dylan, who went 5-for-8 on the day. “It seemed like the ball was flying well and everyone was hitting the ball hard. We just came up clutch with the bottom of our lineup and all of our lineup.”

Dylan also picked up the pitching win in relief in the first game as he allowed zero earned runs in one and a third innings against a Century team that had been hitting the ball well.

Nik, who pitched five innings of the nightcap, said he was pleased with how his little brother played on Thursday.

“He’s here for those kind of situations,” Nik said of Dylan. “Big time players make big time plays and he’s a big time player.”

The Packers seem to be picking up momentum as the season winds down. After winning just one of their first nine games, they’ve played much better this week. The dugout has been lively and the team is playing with confidence.

Austin senior catcher Brady McDermott made a diving catch behind the plate to seal the opening win and he also knocked in a run in each game. He said the team is coming together at the right time.

“We’re definitely more confident,” McDermott said. “We’re going up there with a mindset at the plate not to be selfish, but we’re going up there to help each other. When we’ve got guys in scoring position, we’re finding big plays when we need them.”

Austin pitching: Isaac Schumacher, 4 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 K; Alex Ciola, 1 1/3 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 7 ER, 1 HBP; Nate Conner, 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 ER, 1 K; Dylan Gasner (W) 1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 0 ER

Austin hitting: Dylan Gasner, 3-for-5, double, 3 RBIs, 3 R; Alex Ciola, 3-for-4, double, 2 RBIs, R, BB; Nate Conner, 2-for-3, double, 2 RBIs, 3 R, SB, BB; Jason Stoulil, 2-for-4, RBI, 3 R, BB; Nik Gasner, 3-for-3, HR, 6 RBIs, 2 R, BB; Ryan McCormack, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs; Riley Wagner, 1-for-2, double, BB; Schumacher, 1-for-3, 2 R, SB, BB; Mitchell Truax, 0-for-2, 2, 2 BBs; Brady McDermott, 1-for-1, RBI, R

Century 0 0 0 0 2 — 2 5 1

Austin 4 1 0 0 3 — 8 7 0

Austin pitching: Nik Gasner, 5 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 6 K

Austin hitting: Dylan Gasner, 2-for-3, triple, 2 R, BB; Ciola, 1-for-3, RBI, R; Stoulil, 0-for-3; Nik Gasner, 1-for-2, HR, 4 RBIs, 2 R, BB; Jake Reinartz, 1-for-1, R, BB; McDermott, 1-for-3, RBI, R; Truax, 0-for-1, HBP, BB; McCormack, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs