SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – After falling behind 6-0 in the top of the third inning, the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (22-8, 5-3) mounted  yet another furious rally in the fourth and fifth innings to take their first and final lead of the District 6-AAAA series over Cookeville (19-6, 6-2) in a 7-6 victory.

Cookeville picked up right where they left off from Monday’s victory, plating one run in each of the first two innings before putting up four runs in the top of the third inning to take a commanding six run lead.

However, the Golden Eagles would not go away, getting one run back in the third inning before plating four of their own in the fourth. It started out with a leadoff walk – as many rallies do – to Elijah Westbrooks. Brody Thomas singled to center, then Ashton Whorley singled to load the bases with nobody out.

Braxton Vari struck out, then Miles McCullough’s ground ball resulted in a force out at home plate, and all of a sudden the rally was on life support. However, thanks to McCullough’s hustle to stay out of a double play, the lineup flipped over to Stephen Bobo with two outs. 

After Bobo took a pitch in the dirt to go ahead 3-1, Brody Thomas took advantage of the passed ball to score the Golden Eagles’ second run of the game, trimming the Cavs lead to 6-2. Bobo then worked a full-count walk to load the bases for Blake Bone. After Whorley scored to make it 6-3 on another passed ball, Bone delivered a big time base hit into right field, scoring both McCullough and Bobo to get Shelbyville Central right back in the game, trailing by just a single run, 6-5.

After Maillet put up a zero in the top of the fifth, Elijah Westbrooks once again led off the inning by reaching base safely, this time after getting hit by a pitch. Thomas bunted Westbrooks to second, and then Whorley singled to left, putting runners at first and third. Vari grounded out to first, but Westbrooks was able to score the tying run from third. Then, Cookeville committed a crucial error to concede the go-ahead run on a McCullough ground ball. The Cavaliers’ first baseman, Landen Severence, was unable to make the play, allowing Whorley to score what turned out to be the winning run from third.

After Kaleb Maillet battled for five innings against a tough Cookeville lineup, Shelbyville Central Head Coach Chase Jones brought on Stephen Bobo for the final two innings to record the extended save. Bobo did not allow a baserunner, sitting down all six batters he faced with four of them coming via strikeout. Of Bobo’s 22 pitches, 16 were strikes.

Meanwhile, despite the tough start, Maillet managed to get through 5.0 innings, giving up six runs – five earned – on four hits and six walks with three strikeouts on 93 pitches.

For Cookeville, Case Collins pitched the first 3.2 innings, but was unable to get out of the fourth, giving up five earned runs on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts on 74 pitches. Colby Hunt came on in relief, lasting 0.2 innings and giving up two runs – one earned – on one hit and one walk before Zolten Knight entered for the final 1.2 innings. 

At the plate for Shelbyville Central, Stephen Bobo led off going 1-for-3 with a walk and a double. Blake Bone went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, Caden Peacock was 1-for-3 with a walk and a double, and Westbrooks went 0-for-1 with a walk and a HBP. Thomas was 1-for-2 with a run scored, and Ashton Whorley finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Shelbyville Central secures the No. 3 seed in the District 6-AAAA Tournament, and will travel to No. 2 seed Lincoln County next week in a win-or-go-home best-of-three series. First, the Golden Eagles wrap up the regular season with a two-game series against Franklin County, starting with Senior Night on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.