SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Despite falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, the Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (29-9, 5-3) came back to defeat Cookeville (25-7, 6-2) for the third-consecutive game this season, 5-3, and win the program’s first Region Championship since 1993 on Sunday afternoon in front of a packed Mother’s Day crowd.

“We’re never out of the fight,” Shelbyville Central Head Coach Chase Jones said postgame, “That’s one of our core principles in this program. The reason we are never out of a fight is because we’re not going to get caught up in thinking that we have to score two or three runs or what might happen, those young men are absolutely locked in to the only thing that’s in their control, which is this pitch and this moment. When this pitch and this moment is over, they flush it and they move to the next pitch and the next moment. That creates moments like this. It’s why I feel like we’re dangerous in the sixth or seventh inning. We aren’t thinking behind, we aren’t thinking ahead, we are just absolutely locked into the moment. This group has done that as well as any group I’ve ever coached.”

After Case Davis launched a no-doubt game-tying solo home run to right field in the fifth inning, the Golden Eagles went to work in the bottom of the sixth. It started with some good fortune, as Braxton Vari led off with a blooper into right that resulted in Vari reaching second base after Ty Harrison let the ball bounce past him trying to scoop it up. Despite a solid outing on the whole, Case Collins immediately balked Vari over to third with nobody out, prompting a pitching change. Dawit Inman retired Miles McCullough for the first out as the lineup flipped over, and then Cookeville intentionally walked Stephen Bobo in an attempt to set up the double play. The Cavaliers also made another pitching change, bringing in a sidewinder, Zolton Knight, to try and get a ground ball.

Instead, Blake Bone squared to bunt after taking strike one, and Vari hustled home in time to beat the tag and give the Golden Eagles their first lead of the day at 4-3. Bone stole second, and then Caden Peacock was hit by a full-count pitch to load the bases. After Case Davis popped out for the second out, a wild pitch allowed Bone to reach home safely in a sprint to give Stephen Bobo an insurance run heading into the top of the seventh inning.

Bobo came in and struck out two of the three hitters he faced, including the final one to send the Golden Eagles to the State Sectional round.

“I’m just so grateful for this group of kids, for God’s path leading me here,” Jones said, “This is a special time for this baseball program and this school, and they’re just fun to watch. The biggest coaching thing I can do is get the heck out of the way and let ‘em go play during games because they’re going to find a way. What a team. What a group of young men. I’m humbled and blessed to be around them every day. I’m beyond blessed that God’s plan has led me to Shelbyville, Tennessee, and this baseball program.”

Kaleb Maillet got the start again on the mound for Shelbyville Central after throwing 63 pitches in the win over Cleveland on Thursday. On just two days' rest, Maillet was incredible, pitching 6.0 complete innings and giving up four hits, three unearned runs, and two walks while striking out six batters on 98 pitches. Stephen Bobo recorded the save after setting down Cookeville 1-2-3 in the seventh to secure the win on just nine pitches.

Thanks to a couple errors in the top of the first, the Cavs managed a two-out rally that plated three and gave the visitors an early 3-0 advantage and stunned the capacity Mother’s Day crowd at the Eagles’ Nest. However, Stephen Bobo came through with a massive 2-RBI single back up the middle with the bases loaded to trim the lead to just one run, 3-2. 

Then, the biggest moment in the game came in the top of the fourth inning. A Cookeville rally started with an infield single from seven-hole hitter Easton Davidson, then the Cavs had runners on second and third with nobody out after Templeton reached safely. Maillet struck out Tyler Smith, but the Cavs flipped the lineup over to bring up Auburn commit KJ Anderson, who the Golden Eagles promptly intentionally walked to load the bases. This brought up Cole Teeters, who worked the count full before grounding into a tailor-made 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. Maillet had worked his way out of runners on second and third with nobody out without conceding a single run.

‘That was the turning point of the game,” Jones admitted postgame, “He [Maillet] was getting close on his pitch count because if we lost this game and have to travel to Beech on Wednesday, we would have had to start thinking about getting Kaleb out of there and having him ready for Thursday. Getting the double play…he goes out to the mound, he puts his dang Superman cape on and today, he went through spots where he didn’t necessarily have his best stuff, but when it comes crunch time, there’s no other kid I’d rather have on the mound than him. Today was a gutty, gutty, gutty performance, especially with Cookeville putting up a three-spot in the first inning. He gave us a chance to come back before Stephen [Bobo] came in and did Stephen things.”

The Golden Eagles registered their third win in four tries against Cookeville this season, and all three have included some sort of comeback. The first win came in game two of the regular season district series on Tuesday, Apr. 21, when the Golden Eagles overcame a 6-0 deficit to win, 7-6. Then, on Monday, May 4 at Cookeville, Shelbyville Central overcame a 4-3 deficit to secure its first district title in 20 years. Now, Shelbyville Central once again stuns the Cavaliers, this time to move one series win away from the State Tournament.

“I’m just proud,” said Jones, “The biggest thing for me as a coach is I want to represent our school and our community the right way, and these guys absolutely do. I want to represent Mr. Cooper and Cooper Steel the right way. Cooper Steel has been a godsend with the amount of resources they’ve poured into this school. You come and look at our facilities and you look at our field…the way that our kids represent themselves, and they represent themselves in the classroom and the community, I’m so proud of this group of young men.”

“The fan support was also remarkable,” Jones continued, “It gave me chill bumps earlier. I came out and I looked around and I was just blown away. It was the same thing on Thursday night, and these young men have a lot of supporters, and they have a lot of people that love them, cheer for them, and genuinely want them to be successful. Our kids feed off of that. As we get into the sectional games against Hendersonville, hopefully on Thursday and Friday, these young men are going to feed off of the packed stands and fan support. I’d love to see that again for them.”

At the plate for the Golden Eagles, Stephen Bobo led off going 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk. Blake Bone was 1-for-4 with an RBI, Case Davis went 1-for-4 with a solo home run, and Elijah Westbrooks finished 1-for-3. Braxton Vari went 1-for-2, and Miles McCullough finished 1-for-3.

Shelbyville Central is likely to host Hendersonville for a best-of-three series beginning with Game One at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Game Two will be held on Friday at 11:30 a.m. with an if-necessary Game Three scheduled for Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The winner advances to the Class AAAA State Tournament beginning on Tuesday, May 19th.