SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles (23-8, 5-3) secured game one of a two-game non-district series against Franklin County (12-14, 4-4), 8-3, on Thursday.

With the win, Shelbyville Central finishes the 2026 regular season with a 15-1 record at home. The lone defeat came back on Mar. 31 against Lincoln County. 

“For what we have here, to protect this house, that’s a big deal,” Shelbyville Central Head Coach Chase Jones said postgame, “I feel like we have a great homefield advantage here, and it will only continue to get better in the future. Our kids just feel comfortable here, and we had a great homestand here this season.”

On the mound for the Golden Eagles, Ashton Whorley managed to pitch a complete 7.0 innings, giving up just three earned runs on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts on 103 pitches.

“Ashton [Whorley] threw well,” Jones said, “This is probably one of the best performances he’s had for us on the mound this year. We were going to bring him out after the sixth inning when he was at 91 pitches and bring in Camron Burke in relief, but Ashton came up to me and said he wanted to finish it. That’s what you want. It’s good to see him pound the zone like he did tonight and get ahead of batters.”

For good measure, Whorley also went a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of walks batting seventh in the lineup.

The Golden Eagles loaded the bases in the second inning, and Brody Thomas came home to score the first run of the game on a Blake Bone two-out infield single to the shortstop. Then, Caden Peacock hustled out another grounder, and an error on the first baseman allowed Braylon Casteel – courtesy-running for Whorley – to double the hosts’ lead.

Shelbyville Central plated three more in the third with two of those coming from Brody Thomas’ first home run of the season. Then, in the fourth inning, Caden Peacock launched his third round-tripper of the year with a no-doubt solo shot to left field that landed in the trees.

“They’re relaxed [at the plate],” said Jones, “Our focus right now is our timing and our rhythm, making sure that we’re loaded and released, and putting good swings on pitches. We still have to clean up a little bit, but they’re doing a really good job of all that right now.”

Franklin County’s Colton Rinkes cut the hosts’ lead in half, 6-3, on a three-run home run of his own in the top of the fifth, but the Golden Eagles responded with a pair of insurance runs in the home half to give Whorley an 8-3 lead that he would close out cleanly.

At the plate for Shelbyville Central, Stephen Bobo led off going 1-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and a walk. Blake Bone went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk, Caden Peacock was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, a walk, and a home run, and Brody Thomas finished 3-for-3 with his 2-RBI home run and a walk. Whorley went 2-for-2 with two walks, and Braxton Vari finished 1-for-4. Overall the hosts compiled 11 hits as a team, but did strand 11 runners despite plating eight runs.

Shelbyville Central travels to Franklin County on Friday to close out the regular season before turning their sights to the District 6-AAAA Tournament next week.