The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles went a perfect 3-0 in the Viking Classic last week with wins over Windward High, North Posey, and Cameron High while also defeating Rocket City afterwards.

GAME ONE

The first game was against Cameron High, a 17-2 (after 4 innings) run rule that saw both Stephen Bobo and Nick Johnson drive in three runs apiece on Thursday. Both players tied to lead the Eagles in hits with two, along with Blake Bone and Carston Williams. Bone added two RBIs of his own while Williams also drove in a run. The Eagles as a team combined for 13 hits.

Williams also went three complete innings for Shelbyville on the bump, only giving up one hit. Both runs scored by Cameron High were unearned. Williams struck out six batters while only walking two.

The Eagles had great success with playing some small ball as well, as they tallied an impressive seven stolen bases in just three innings at the plate. William Bobo, Palmer Edwards, and Blake Bone all recorded a stolen base while Jakob Formosa and Stephen Bobo each swiped two bags themselves.

Shelbyville took a 3-2 lead after the first inning, but it was the second and third innings where the Eagles did the majority of their damage, tallying eight runs in the second and six runs in the third while holding Cameron High scoreless to end the game in the fourth inning.

GAME TWO

In the second game, and the first on Friday, Shelbyville Central won a low scoring affair against the North Posey Vikings from Indiana, 3-0. The two teams combined for eight hits with five of them coming from the Eagles, including a game-high two hits from Caden Duggin. 

Duggin and first baseman Jakob Formosa accounted for all three RBI’s with Formosa’s 2-RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning extending Shelbyville’s lead to three runs. Duggin tallied his RBI in the bottom of the second inning, sending home Braxton Bari for the first run of the game.

Palmer Edwards threw an absolute gem on the mound: a three-hit complete game shutout with five strikeouts and only one walk on only 89 pitches. Edwards was able to work around four errors from his fielders as well, stranding eight Vikings’ runners on base.

The Golden Eagles swiped seven bags in this game as well, including two from Carston Williams.

GAME THREE

In the second game on Friday, the Golden Eagles took down the Windward Wildcats (CA), 4-3, after a Palmer Edwards walk off single on Shelbyville’s eighth hit of the game sealed the win in the bottom of the sixth. 

Ashton Whorley got the start on the bump, going four complete innings and only giving up four hits with three strikeouts and a walk. Of the three runs scored with Whorley on the mound, two of them were earned, both on a two-run home run in the top of the third inning by Alex Umland. Umland’s home run tied the game up at 3-3 until Edward’s came through in the sixth.

William Bobo came in for Whorley to post a pair of zeros in the final two innings, striking out three and not allowing a single Wildcat to reach base. 

Umland also went 5.1 innings on the mound for Windward, striking out 11 batters and only walking one. He gave up eight hits, including the walk-off,  and all four runs conceded were earned, all on 94 pitches. 

Carston Williams, Nick Johnson, and Nick Hopper all led Shelbyville with two hits apiece, but it was the damage done on the basepaths afterwards that the visiting Wildcats felt the most. 

Stephen Bobo, Johnson, and Hopper each stole three bases, and Williams swiped one of his own. 

Shelbyville opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the first inning before Windward got a run back in the top of the second via the only error committed all game by the Golden Eagles. The hosts responded with another run in the second to push their lead back to two, but then Umland knotted the game up at 3 with his round-tripper in the top of the third, eventually leading to Edwards’ walk-off three innings later.  

GAME  FOUR

The fourth and final game of the week, against Rocket City (AL), was never in doubt from the very beginning, as Shelbyville used an eight-run third inning to coast to a 12-2 run-rule victory after five innings on Saturday. 

This game also saw the return for senior Kyler Trice, who had not been able to play sports of any kind since all the way back in February in Shelbyville’s District Tournament matchup at Lincoln County when he collapsed in the locker at halftime. Trice did not record a hit in his one at-bat, but just seeing him out there on the diamond for the first time this season is a sign of better days to come. 

Meanwhile, Parker Burks got the nod on the bump for the Golden Eagles, and he took full advantage of his opportunity. Burks went all five innings, striking out three batters and walking one. He gave up only five hits, and only one of the two runs that Rocket City scored were earned. 

The hosts’ offense combined for 16 hits in just those five innings with Palmer Edwards continuing his hot weekend with a game-high three hits and one RBI. Nick Johnson went 2-3 with a triple and an RBI, and Brody Lovvorn collected a pair of RBI singles.

Shelbyville started off fast, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning while Burks put up a pair of zero’s to start the game. He gave up one run in the third inning, but then the Golden Eagles’ bats exploded for the aforementioned eight runs to take a commanding 11-1 lead after just nine outs.

The Rockets managed to push across one more run in the fourth inning only for the hosts to get it right back in the home half to extend the lead to 12-2.