The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles were unable to overcome seven errors in their District 9-AAAA opener at Lincoln County, falling 13-10 to the hometown Falcons.

Palmer Edwards, Shelbyville’s ace,  started on the mound for the Golden Eagles, but unfortunately for the visitors, the Lincoln County bats were locked in from the first pitch. Edwards was knocked out of the game after 2.2 innings with a final line of eight hits, two strikeouts, two walks, and two home runs given up. Lincoln County scored 10 of their 13 total runs against Edwards, but only three of those runs were earned as the Eagles committed multiple errors in the field.

Michael Estrada came in to relieve Edwards to close out both the third and fourth innings, only allowing one hit, tallying one strikeout with one walk, and only one run. Estrada’s calming performance on the mound gave his offense a chance to get back in the game, and they managed to do just that, cutting the lead to as close as two runs heading into the fifth inning.

William Bobo came in to pitch for Estrada to start the fifth inning, and he recorded the next four outs, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks while tallying a strikeout.

Brody Lovvorn recorded the final two outs with one of those coming via a strikeout.

Mick Smith got the nod for Lincoln County, going 3.2 innings before being knocked out in the fourth by the Golden Eagles lineup with a three run lead. His final line was seven hits, six strikeouts to only two walks, and one home run given up. Out of the eight runs Shelbyville scored against Smith, only one of those was earned thanks to a pair of errors committed by Falcons’ fielders.  

Ben Davis came in to relive Smith to record the final 10 outs of the game, and he managed to do just that. Stepping onto the mound with a 10-7 lead, he limited the Eagles offense to just two runs on two hits, one of those coming on a solo home run. Davis also walked five batters, but he managed to escape the jams he put himself into with eight of the 10 outs recorded coming by way of the strikeout. 

Carston Williams (2) and Stephen Bobo (1) each hit a home run for Shelbyville, and Lovvorn tallied a team-high three RBIs when he had a bases-clearing single in the five-run fourth inning.

For Lincoln County, senior first baseman Bryce Percell recorded a game-high four hits in the leadoff spot, repeatedly setting the table for his Falcons’ teammates, and he came around to score all four times he reached base. 

Lincoln County’s lineup was also extremely disciplined at the plate, drawing six walks while only striking out five times. Comparatively, Shelbyville’s lineup struck out twice as much as they walked: 14Ks to 7BBs. 

Entering the seventh inning trailing 13-9, Shelbyville could only muster up one run against Davis with their final three outs, officially bringing the final score to 13-10.

The Golden Eagles fall to 3-6 (0-1) but will have a chance to respond and grab a series split against the Falcons at home on Wednesday night after Tuesday’s contest was postponed due to weather.