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…