Brady Kentgen’s homer drought figured to end this week.

Marengo’s big, tall slugger and his baseball teammates were playing Richmond-Burton twice, after all.

And Kentgen owns R-B. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior first baseman hits rockets off the Rockets.

Kentgen’s two-run homer and Max Broughton’s six scoreless innings on the mound led Marengo to an 8-1 win on a cool, rainy Thursday, as the Indians avenged their Kishwaukee River Conference loss from two days earlier in Richmond.

It was Kentgen’s first homer of the season and fourth against R-B since last season. He hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in two games against the Rockets last year. After going hitless Tuesday, Kentgen went 2 for 3 with three RBIs as Marengo (11-7, 5-3 KRC) earned a season-series split.

“It just might be my week, I guess,” Kentgen said. “It just feels really good to finally have my first homer this year.”

Marengo’s Alex Johnson had himself a game as well in cooling off R-B (12-9, 5-3), which had won four in a row and six of its past seven games. Johnson went 3 for 4 with four runs scored and a stolen base from the leadoff spot, and the senior third baseman had the heads-up play of the game.

With Marengo leading 3-0 thanks to Broughton’s RBI single in the first off Rockets starter Anthony Harvey and Kentgen’s two-run homer to left field in the third, R-B threatened. Lucas Bynum reached on an error leading off the fifth and sped to third on Harvey’s booming double to right-center.

No. 9 hitter Joseph Larsen then hit a fly ball that was caught by right fielder Kosta Siambanis. Bynum tagged and scored easily, but the Indians appealed, believing Bynum left the bag before Siambanis made the catch.

The umpires agreed. So did R-B coach Mike Giese, even though he argued, and the freshman Bynum was called out, nullifying Larsen’s sacrifice fly. Broughton struck out the next hitter to end the inning.

“Lucas left early,” Giese said. “All I did was mention to the umpire that I knew both of them weren’t looking [at third base]. Part of that, too, is Lucas is a freshman. It’s a learning moment.”

Marengo coach Nick Naranjo gave credit to his veteran third baseman, Johnson, who requested the appeal.

“He’s the smartest kid we have in the program,” Naranjo said. “He’s like having another coach on the field. He pays attention to those little details. That’s our motto of the year: Little things make big things happen.”

“He uses his smarts pretty well,” Broughton said of his teammate.

Broughton took care of the rest, striking out the side in the sixth. The senior righty finished with five strikeouts and one walk using primarily a fastball and curveball. Besides Harvey’s double, the only other hit he allowed was a bunt single by Ryan Scholberg.

“He lives in the [strike] zone,” Naranjo said of Broughton. “His fastball’s got some life to it, he’s got a nice breaking ball and, for the most part, he mixes his levels. He’s in, he’s out, he’s up, he’s down. I think he does a really good job of keeping hitters at bay.”

Broughton threw 60 of his 97 pitches for strikes on a day when, perhaps not coincidentally considering the wet conditions, the teams made a combined four throwing errors.

“I was just locked in the entire time,” Broughton said. “I relied on my defense to make plays.”

Kentgen hit a slider from Harvey and deposited the ball near the scoreboard in left with Johnson on second base and two out.

“We let Brady hit one out of the ballpark with an open bag, which we try to prepare them for,” Giese said. “He’s too good of a hitter. You just cannot let somebody like that beat you.”

Siambanis’ RBI single highlighted Marengo’s three-run fifth. Caden Oine and Kentgen delivered back-to-back singles to score two more runs in the sixth.

“We needed that to get back [for Tuesday’s loss],” Broughton said.

R-B scored its only run in the seventh on a ball that kicked back to the backstop with the bases loaded.

“We played well this week. We’ve been playing well lately,” Giese said. “But sometimes we don’t do some of the little things better, and today that’s what stung us a little bit.”