SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – In front of a packed home crowd in the Region 3-AAAA semifinals on Thursday night, the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (28-9, 5-3) took down the Cleveland Blue Raiders (22-10, 8-4), 11-2, to set up a rematch with Cookeville on Sunday afternoon.

“The crowd tonight was phenomenal,” Shelbyville Central Head Coach Chase Jones said, “We’ve had great support all year, and this program is blessed. We’ve got Cooper Steel and Gary Cooper that have put so much into this program, and tonight, what he did to encourage fans to come in here, I haven’t seen anything like it. The support tonight that these kids felt, it’s irreplaceable. That’s the advantage of playing at home. Our kids feed off of that. I know it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday, but I hope we have as big of a crowd out here to cheer on these guys trying to get to the sectional.”

Kaleb Maillet pitched an effective 4.0 innings for the Golden Eagles, giving up just two runs – one earned – on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts on 66 pitches. His counterpart for Cleveland, Owen Goglio, pitched just 1.0+ innings, giving up six runs – two earned – on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts.

The Golden Eagles took advantage of four ill-timed errors from the District 5-4A regular season champions, scoring six unearned runs in total on 10 hits. 

Shelbyville Central jumped on the Blue Raiders early and often, starting off with a Stephen Bobo leadoff single. Bobo reached second on Blake Bone’s infield chopper, then was driven home by Caden Peacock’s RBI single into left. Case Davis kept the train moving with a single into right, and then a wild pitch allowed both runners to move into scoring position. This allowed Brody Thomas to drive home Peacock on a grounder to short, and a throwing error from Collin Stuart allowed Thomas to reach safely with one out. 

A throwing error by the Cleveland catcher, Caden Tippens, as he tried to gun down Thomas swiping second allowed Davis to extend the hosts’ lead to 3-0. Thomas moved to third, and then Ashton Whorley drove him home on a double down the left-field line. Braxton Vari slapped a single into right to score Whorley and take a 5-0 lead heading into the second inning.

“I was a little nervous before the game just because I couldn’t really get a read on our guys,” Jones admitted postgame, “A 7:00 game is late enough to where our routine was a little different, but our guys didn’t look nervous at all. After the first inning, I knew what the look was, and they were ready to go. Putting a five-spot up in the bottom of the first was huge.”

Maillet set down Cleveland in order to quickly bring his hot offense back to the plate for the bottom of the second, and Stephen Bobo led off with a walk. Bone singled into right, then a throwing error from the right fielder allowed the Golden Eagles’ star centerfielder to score easily and take a 6-0 lead.

Cleveland fought back in the top of the third, plating two runs of their own before Maillet stranded runners on first and third to end the frame with a 6-2 lead.

“They scored two runs in the third inning, and they could have scored more but we got out of it,” said Jones, “The key to that inning was we gave up the two runs, then came right back and we answered with a run. We kept putting pressure on them [Cleveland] all night offensively. It helped alleviate pressure.”

The Golden Eagles plated yet another run in the home half after Elijah Westbrooks came home to score from third to grow the lead to 7-2 on a balk from Stuart, who had taken over on the mound following Goglio’s rough start.

Maillet again left two runners stranded in the top of the fourth, and his night would be over after that. Since Maillet threw just 66 pitches, he is eligible and available to pitch on Sunday in a bullpen role.

“We wanted to keep Kaleb [Maillet] below that 75-pitch mark,” Jones said about his starter, “We have our entire pitching rotation on deck for Sunday, and now we just have to go out there and take it. Cookeville is going to be hungry, and we’re going to have to match that intensity in how we stay locked in for each pitch.” 

In the bottom of the fourth, the Golden Eagles took an 8-2 lead after Bobo’s leadoff infield single led to Bobo sliding home safely on a passed ball. 

Brody Thomas came on in relief for Maillet for the fifth and sixth innings, striking out three batters with one walk while giving up zero hits and zero runs on 34 pitches.

Shelbyville Central did not score in the fifth, but the Golden Eagles nearly triggered the run-rule in the bottom of the sixth after plating three runs in the inning to take an 11-2 lead thanks to a Bone RBI-single and a Davis 2-RBI single. The hosts stranded runners on base, but Camron Burke came in to pitch the seventh and set down Cleveland in order.

At the plate for Shelbyville Central, Stephen Bobo led off going 2-for-2 with two walks, Bone went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Peacock finished 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk. Case Davis was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Thomas finished 0-for-3 with an RBI and a walk, and Elijah Westbrooks went 1-for-3. Whorley was 1-for-1 with a double, an RBI, and a walk, and Vari finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The Golden Eagles now turn their sights to Cookeville in the Region 3-AAAA Championship game on Sunday with first-pitch set for 1:00 p.m. The loser of that game then would have to play again at roughly 6:00 p.m. against the winner of Cleveland-Bradley Central for the right to advance to the sectional round.