SHELBYVILLE — Shelbyville Central’s Golden Eagles took advantage of quality pitching and came up with a big hit at the right time to claim an impressive 1-0 win over District 6-4A leading Coffee County (8-3, 5-1) on Tuesday night at home.
“I’m not going to try and sugar coat it, this was a program-defining win. From where we were a year ago to where we are today is night and day,” Shelbyville Central coach Chase Jones said.
“Our kids have believed and bought in to what it is to be part of this history-rich program. I could not be more proud of the hard work and dedication our players and coaches have put in to this program.”
Coffee County’s Jacob Holder loaded the bases in the top of the seventh and with no outs, relief pitcher Carston Williams struck out a pair of batters.
Sophomore catcher Mason Shavers then retrieved a passed ball tossed it to Williams, who placed the tag on a runner trying to steal home, for the third out.
“When they had bases loaded and nobody out in the top of seventh, when I came out to talk to him (Williams) I wasn't sure if I was going to make a pitching change or not,” Jones said.
“I took one look in his eyes and knew we were sticking with him and he went strike out, strike out, and he and Mason combined on a wild play at the plate.”
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Eagles took advantage of a pair of infield errors with Jaquai Beverly getting the game-winning hit, scoring Marquis Williams from third.
Beverly got the start for the Eagles and pitched 5 1/3 innings, striking out eight with two walks and allowing only three hits, with no runs.
Williams came in and fanned three with one walk, one hit and no runs.
Coffee County’s Jacob Holder was impressive on the mound as well, striking out 11 with four walks in a two-hit complete game effort.
“We have to tip our hat to Holder for Coffee County. He is as good as any pitcher in the state and he came with his A game tonight. But, we had two guys that packed there A game as well. Jaquai could not have pitched a better game. He has been battling shoulder issues all off-season and we could not extend him past an 85 pitch count. I was actually thinking 70 would be his max going in to today. He was in absolute compete mode the entire night. Carston came completely locked in as well.”
Caleb Molder had a hit as well for the Eagles.
Cole Pippenger collected a double and single fir the Red Raiders.
“This was a win earned by every player in the program, however, the reality is we are only almost to the halfway point of a season that is a tournament sport. We need to use this as fuel and our kids need to keep believing and improving. As big as this win is for our players and our program it won't mean very much if we don't build off it and aren't playing our very best baseball in May,” Jones said. “We are going to enjoy tonight and get back to working on getting a little bit better tomorrow.”
Shelbyville Central (6-9, 2-4) began competing in the Mountain Valley Classic hosted by Sequatchie County, on Friday night.

Coffee Co. 000 000 0 – 0 4 2
Shelbyville Central 000 000 1 – 1 2 1
Coffee Co.: Cole Pippenger 2-for-3, Jacob Holder 1-for-2, Brendon Sheppard 1-for-2.
Shelbyville Central: Jaquai Beverly 1-for-4, Caleb Molder 1-for-2.
WP: Williams
LP: Holder

Coffee Co. 9, Shelbyville 1
MANCHESTER — Shelbyville Central dropped a 9-1 decision at Coffee County in a District 6 4-A contest on the road on Monday night.
Coffee County pitcher Aiden Roberson was in total control, giving up four hits while striking out 14 and walking two in seven innings.
Roberson and Caleb Moran had a double and single each while Jacob Holder added a double for the winners.
Caden Thomas collected two hits for the Eagles.
Palmer Edwards got the start on the mound for Shelbyville Central (5-9, 1-4) with relief appearances by Brody Lovvorn, Michael Estrada and Caleb Molder.

Shelbyville Central 001 000 0 — 1 5 2
Coffee Co. 201 510 x — 9 8 3
Shelbyville Central: William Bobo 1-for-4, Kyler Trice 1-for-3, Jaqual Beverly 1-for-3, Caden Thomas 2-for-3.
Coffee Co,: Moran 2-for-4, Robertson 2-for-4, McKenzie 1-for-4, Holder 1-for-3, Daugherty 1-for-2, Crosslin 1-for-3.
WP: Robertson
LP: Edwards