SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (20-5, 5-3) completed the District 9-AAAA series sweep of the Columbia Central Lions (11-10, 4-4), 7-1, on Tuesday night to move into sole possession of second place with just one district series remaining on the calendar. 

“This was a huge district series,” Golden Eagles’ Head Coach Chase Jones said postgame, “Last night, I mean, wow. Stephen pitched his tail off, we scored two runs in the top of the first, then they scored one, and we just kind of held the rope until we got the last out. Tonight, I feel kind of bad for Columbia, they’re dealing with some injuries; their second baseman [Aiden Saum] who’s one of their better hitters went out tonight with a hamstring pull in the second inning. They’re reeling right now, of course we kind of put them on their heels last night and coming into tonight, but this, for the shapeup of the district, we control our own destiny because we have an opportunity to host the district tournament.”

“I’m proud of our guys, we had to have at least a split, we really needed a sweep, and we got a sweep.”

Shelbyville got a pair of home runs on the night from Stephen Bobo and Caden Peacock to complement the dominant outing on the mound from William Bobo. Bobo threw 6.2 innings, allowing just two runs, one earned, on five hits and three walks to go with 10 strikeouts on 106 pitches. Michael Estrada came on to record the final out on five pitches. 

“I love where William [Bobo] was at,” Jones said about his star senior, “I talked to him today, and yanno, just looking in his eyes last night during the course of the game…of course you know he had that first at-bat of the game and hit the home run and kinda gets the momentum going for us; we talk about the eye of the tiger, and our kids are getting that. William [Bobo] had it all day today. I talked to him earlier and he just looked right through me, just all day today he could not wait to get on the mound, and I love it.”

For Columbia, Gavin Beddingfield got the start on the mound, throwing the full 6.0 innings and giving up seven runs, four earned, on seven hits and two walks while striking out just two batters on 88 pitches. 

William Bobo, who also finished the night 2-3 at the plate with an RBI and a HBP, started off the home half of the first with an infield single after he held the Lions scoreless in the top of the inning. Caden Duggan hustled out a bunt for a base hit, bringing Stephen Bobo up to the plate with no outs and runners on second and third. After Beddingfield fell behind, 3-0, Bobo punished his fourth pitch of the at-bat, launching a no-doubt 3-run home run over the right-center field wall to put Shelbyville in front, 3-0. This was Bobo’s team-leading fourth round-tripper of the season. 

Stephen Bobo (15) gets ahold of his team-leading fourth home run of the season in Tuesday's win against Columbia Central. Bobo went 1-2 at the plate with a pair of walks and three RBIs.

Amy Todd - SCHS Baseball Facebook

Columbia responded in the top of the second with a pair of two-out knocks that plated the Lions’ first run of the game. Beddington singled up the middle and then Autry Smith lined an RBI-triple into the right-center field gap to trim the lead to 3-1. 

In the home half of the second, Reager Edwards led things off with a single, eventually reaching second with two outs as the lineup flipped over to William Bobo. Bobo promptly connected on a sharp ground-ball that found its way through the six-hole to drive home Edwards and put Shelbyville back up by three runs, 4-1. 

Bobo put together a quick 1-2-3 inning, and then Caden Peacock demolished another no-doubt home run, this time off the scoreboard in left field for his second home run in as many district series to grow the lead to 5-1.

Caden Peacock (2) attempts to throw out a runner stealing second against Columbia. Peacock crushed a home run off the scoreboard in left for his second round-tripper in as many district series on Tuesday.

Amy Todd - SCHS Baseball Facebook

“That kid [Peacock], he definitely caught that one, and he’s only going to get better,” said Jones, “He’s so good defensively for us and he’s figuring it out offensively, yanno, and he’s one of those kids, lord, he drives me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade anything about him.”

“He could be a special player by the time he graduates.”

In the top of the fourth, Bobo stranded a pair of Lions’ baserunners to put up another zero and allow his offense to manufacture another run. Reager Edwards led things off by reaching safely following an error at short, then Blake Bone also reached safely via an error, this time at third. Estrada sac-bunted to move over both runners, William Bobo was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and then Duggan drove home Edwards on a fielder’s choice at second for Shelbyville’s sixth run of the game. 

“I liked our approach tonight,” Jones said, “We had a couple poor at-bats, but I thought for the most part…I mean I’ll have to go and see what our quality at-bat percentage was, but I’d say that we were .600 or above. We had a couple poor ones, but overall I was really pleased with the quality of our at-bats tonight.”

Bobo stranded another runner in scoring position to start the fifth inning with a strikeout looking, and then Shelbyville plated its seventh run of the night in the home half. 

In the sixth, Bobo worked around a leadoff single by Matthew Thomas to post his fourth-consecutive shutout inning of the night. Bobo was finally pulled in the seventh inning with two outs. Smith was standing on third base and the lineup was flipping back to the top, so Jones brought in Estrada from right field to get the final out. Smith did eventually come home to score on a passed ball, but Estrada induced a series-ending groundout to first to secure the win, 7-2.

“Our kids are fun to be around,” Jones lauded postgame. “They’re fun to watch play, they’re fun to be around at practice, they’re fun to be around when we’re in the locker room, I just have a great group of young men and we’re having fun. It’s one of those things that I’ve got to watch myself to make sure we’re disciplined enough to where we’re not crossing the line and having too much fun. I love my guys. I’m enjoying it, and I hope they’re enjoying it half as much as I am because this is a fun ride right now.”

Shelbyville picks up its 20th win of the season, and moves into sole possession of second place in District 9-AAAA. The top two seeds in each district at the end of the regular season earn the privilege to host the opening rounds of the District Tournament, providing a wonderful opportunity to qualify in good standing for the Region Tournament afterwards. 

The Golden Eagles’ final district series begins next week against Spring Hill, but first, Shelbyville has five more games on the schedule to close out the week.

“We were talking about this after the end of the game, but we’ve got five games left this week. We’ve got Chapel Hill on Thursday, and then we go down to Dickson County and Creekwood in a tournament this weekend to play four really solid teams,” said Jones, “I told the kids to not get caught up in the win streak and all of that, I told ‘em that I’m pretty sure we’re going to lose two game this weekend and I told ‘em that to piss ‘em off, and I hope they’re going to take that to heart and I hope they prove me wrong. But in all seriousness, we’re going to be throwing out pitchers this weekend who haven’t thrown a varsity inning all year, and I’m excited about that. I’m excited about getting to see what some of these guys can do in a little bit of a pressure situation.”

“It’s going to be a fun end of the week, and hopefully we can just stay healthy for our big series against Spring Hill to start next week,” Jones concluded.

Shelbyville’s series against Spring Hill begins at home on Monday with first-pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m.