The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles had a busy end to the week on the baseball diamond, going a perfect 4-0 after losing a rescheduled matchup with Coffee County in game two of their district series.

GAME TWO

Shelbyville Central played a doubleheader on Friday, winning both games after scoring a combined 20 runs against the Middle Tennessee Monarchs and South Pittsburg Pirates.

It started off with a convincing 13-1 win over the Monarchs that featured a combined no-hitter. Kyler Trice got his first start of the season – out in centerfield batting ninth – and was the only Golden Eagle to record five at-bats. Trice picked up two hits and a run scored while striking out twice. 

Nick Johnson led Shelbyville with four RBI and hit the only home run of the day. Six different batters were hit by a pitch with Brody Lovvorn and Carston Williams getting hit twice. Lovvorn and Williams were also two of three Eagles – Palmer Edwards being the third – with a pair of RBI.

William Bobo got the start on the mound for Shelbyville, throwing four hitless innings on 67 pitches. He struck out five batters while walking four, but the one run he gave up was unearned. 

Reager Edwards pitched two innings in relief, and he was able to secure the no-hit bid, striking out one but putting down six batters in succession to close out the final two innings.

Shelbyville took a 4-1 lead after the first two innings once the Monarchs pushed that run across in the bottom of the second, but this seemed to wake up the Golden Eagles’ bats. Six runs and three outs later, Shelbyville led 10-1. 

The score would stay that way until the top of the sixth inning when the Golden Eagles tacked on three more runs to put their final touches on a 13-1 win.

Shelbyville drew seven walks, six HBPs, collected eight hits, and swiped nine bags – William Bobo stealing four of them – in a very strong offensive showing in the first game on Friday.

GAME THREE

The Golden Eagles carried that strong offensive momentum into the second game on Friday against South Pittsburg in a 7-5 win.

Palmer Edwards got the start on the mound in this one, going five complete innings. He gave up five hits, striking out six while walking three, and only two of the four runs given up were earned.

Michael Estrada came on in relief to secure the save in the sixth, giving up three hits and one run while striking out two batters to one walk.

Three different Golden Eagles collected a pair of hits: Stephen Bobo, Nick Johnson, and Edwards. All three of them recorded one RBI apiece as well to help spark Shelbyville to a combined six runs in the final three innings.

The Pirates held a 2-1 lead going into the fourth inning and a 3-2 lead heading into the fifth, before the Shelbyville bats came to life, pushing across three runs in the top of the fifth inning and two more runs in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the sixth where Estrada was able to eventually secure the save.

GAME FOUR 

Shelbyville Central had another double-header on Saturday, and the first game of the weekend featured a 10-1 domination over Marion County in six innings.

Brody Lovvorn got the start on the bump, and he went the complete six innings on an extremely efficient 61 pitches. He only gave up four hits, and the one run Marion County scored in the bottom of the sixth was unearned. He struck out two batters while walking one, and even though he utilized his defense to get 22 of the 24 outs, his fielders only committed two errors the entire game.

At the plate, Carston Williams and Nick Hopper were the only Golden Eagles to record a multi-hit game, both tallying a pair of singles. Kyler Trice recorded his first official hit of the season as well, driving home a run in the process. Williams and Hopper only recorded one RBI each, but it was thanks in large part to five errors on the part of Marion County that those numbers weren’t higher. 

William Bobo swiped four more bags as did Carston Williams as the two Shelbyville stars wreaked havoc on the basepaths in the nine-run victory.

GAME FIVE 

In the second game on Saturday – and the fifth game in three days – Shelbyville Central walked off the Dekalb County Tigers in a thriller, 7-6. 

Two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning proved to be the difference in this back-and-forth affair, as Shelbyville overcame giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh to push across a pair of runs to walk things off.

Parker Burks got the start on the mound for Shelbyville, going 3.2 innings and giving up four hits while striking out two and walking three. All four runs he conceded were earned, and he was relieved by Ashton Worley to record the final out of a three-run Dekalb fifth inning.

Whorley came back out for the fifth and sixth innings, striking out four batters without a walk. Despite giving up five hits, the only run scored by the Tigers with him on the mound was unearned in the top of the sixth.

In the end, however, it was Nick Hopper who recorded the win for being the last pitcher on the mound for Shelbyville in the seventh before their walk-off. 

Caden Duggin was the only Eagle to record two hits – a pair of singles –and he also drove home a pair of runs. Nick Johnson and Carston Williams were the only other batters that recorded an RBI – each on a double – but seven different Golden Eagles’ recorded a base-hit, including Kyler Trice for the fourth consecutive game.

Shelbyville also swiped 11 bags in an impressive show on the basepaths that made the Tigers pay for the eight free passes their pitching staff handed out, and it proved to be the difference in a 7-6 win that secured the Golden Eagles’ fourth consecutive win.

Now, Shelbyville hopes they can maintain their positive momentum into district play against Warren County and pick up their first district win of the season.