Eagles fight back, send Tullahoma packing

MANCHESTER -- The Shelbyville Central baseball team refuses to go down without a fight.

After a tough loss to Lawrence County Friday in the District 8-AAA tournament, the Golden Eagles responded with a complete-game effort to eliminate rival Tullahoma 5-1 in losers' bracket action Saturday night.

Shelbyville, winner of four of its last five games, advances to take on host and defending tourney champion Coffee County in another elimination contest tonight at 6:30.

"I thought Hunter Brothers did a great job on the mound," Eagle coach Brad Frasier said. "He shut down any kind of hope that they had.

"He struck out five in a row at one time and got a lot of ground balls. We're making all the plays right now, and that is what you have to do in tournament play."

Brothers earned the win by keeping the Wildcats off balance all evening long. The junior finished with 10 strikeouts and four walks in 6 1/3 innings of work.

"I felt pretty good," Brothers said. "I just wanted to go in, get ground balls and let my defense make some plays. It feels great to beat them. I was pretty tired (at the end), but I had Chase (Dial) come in behind me."

After Tullahoma loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, Dial recorded the final two outs and the subsequent save via the patented 6-4-3 double play.

Tullahoma concludes its season at 21-15-1.

Shelbyville (13-16) grabbed the early lead with a key run in the top of the first. Drew Turner led off with a single and Michael Watkins was hit by a pitch. Jordan Cooper followed with an RBI single to give the Eagles a 1-0 edge.

The Golden Eagles struck for three big runs in the third to seize a 4-0 lead. Turner was hit by a pitch and Watkins drilled a double moments later. Stephon Ransom increased the lead to 2-0 with a run-scoring single and Dial then nailed a crucial two-RBI single to extend the margin to four runs.

"I thought we did a good job of driving runners in," Frasier said. "We didn't leave many people on base. I think we're playing pretty good baseball right now. We're sitting in a good situation and we feel good right now about where we are at.

"Our big thing is to keep driving in runs. Every time we get somebody on, we need to drive them in as much as we can."

Brothers made the Shelbyville advantage hold up on the mound as the Wildcats could only manage a Ross Daniel run-scoring single with two outs in the sixth to plate their only run.

The Eagles added a huge insurance run in the top of the seventh as Watkins and Ransom each reached with walks. Dial's sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position before Watkins raced home on a passed ball to account for the eventual winning margin.

Brother and Watkins each drilled a double and single to guide the Golden Eagle 10-hit attack. Cooper also added two singles.

Cooper and Turner were each named to the All-District 8-AAA team. Justin Brewer of Tullahoma received the most valuable player award, while southpaw Matt Sharpe of Lincoln County was named the pitcher of the year.