SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (6-4, 0-2) committed six errors in the field en route to a 15-2 loss in six innings against the Lincoln County Falcons (12-2, 2-0) on Tuesday night. 

Lincoln County, the prohibitive regular-season favorites to secure the top overall seed for the District 9-AAAA Tournament, took full advantage of the numerous fielding errors to secure their second-consecutive run-rule victory over Shelbyville to start the district schedule.

The Falcons got started almost immediately against Stephen Bobo with a leadoff single by Ian Weaver. Weaver came around to score after an error on a ground ball put in play by Clint Quick to put the visitors on top, 1-0. Rhett Persell, who finished the night batting 3-5 with a pair of doubles, drove home Quick on an RBI double to end the top of the first with a 2-0 lead. 

Shelbyville responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first to tie things up at 2-2. Brody Lovvorn singled to drive home Caden Duggan, and then Stephen Bobo raced home to score the second run on a wild pitch from Falcons’ starter, Mick Smith.

Lincoln County opened the second inning with back-to-back singles followed by a sac-bunt to move the runners into scoring position with one out. August Lynch drove home one of the runners on a groundout to put the Falcons back in front for good, 3-2, before Bobo stranded the runner at third with a strikeout against Weaver. 

Smith then worked a quick 1-2-3 inning in the home half of the second. The Falcons starter did not allow another run for the rest of his outing, settling into a groove that lasted 5.0 innings. Officially, Smith did not give up an earned run, but he did give up five hits while striking out eight batters on 81 pitches. 

Stephen Bobo, Shelbyville’s stud sophomore lefty hurler, was only able to get through 4.0 innings, but of the seven runs scored with him on the mound, just three were earned. Bobo gave up seven hits, struck out three batters, and walked just one on 82 pitches. 

Lincoln County tacked on two more runs in the third thanks to another error. A one-out double from Persell preceded an error at second on a routine ground ball that put runners on first and third with just one out. The Falcons once again took advantage when Samuel Smith drove home Persell to double the Falcons lead, 4-2, before Smith laced a single into center to drive home Persell and put the visitors in front, 5-2, going into the bottom of the inning. 

After William Bobo and Duggan were retired to lead things off, Stephen Bobo barreled a ball into right for his second hit of the night. Bobo went 2-2 at the plate with a walk, but was stranded at first after Smith struck out Lovvorn to end the inning.

The Falcons found themselves with two more runners in scoring position in the fourth inning and just one out. Weaver grounded to short, but after another throwing error, both runners were able to touch home plate and grow the lead to 7-2. Bobo induced a Persell groundout to end the inning, but the damage was done, and so was Bobo’s night. 

Shelbyville was once again held scoreless by Smith in the bottom of the inning. Ashton Whorley came out to replace Bobo on the mound, but Lincoln County quickly loaded the bases with nobody out, setting the stage for Carson Haney to launch a no-doubt grand slam over the left-field wall to blow the game wide open and balloon the lead to 11-2. 

Lincoln County weren’t able to add any other runs in the inning, but after the Golden Eagles were held scoreless again, the Falcons tacked on four more runs in the top of the sixth to eventually trigger the run-rule and complete the series sweep to open district play, 15-2. 

Shelbyville is scheduled to play at least one game in the Viking Classic against the Middle Tennessee Monarchs on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. before returning to district play with a two-game series against Coffee County. Shelbyville travels to Manchester on Monday with first pitch set for 4:30 p.m. LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 and AM 1400.