Tigers stymie Shelbyville

Having lost 9-4 on the road to Shelbyville three weeks earlier, the Marshall County Tigers (14-8) got even with the Golden Eagles on Friday night when they grinded out a 4-1 victory at Joe George Field.

MCHS starting hurler Aaron Thomason turned in a strong performance on the mound and pitched all seven innings to earn the victory, as he piled up 10 strikeouts during that span while limiting the Golden Eagles to just five hits and a walk.

The Tigers mustered only three hits and three walks against two Shelbyville pitchers, but the Golden Eagles (7-16) laid an egg defensively and committed five errors, which contributed to all four Marshall County runs.

MCHS, conversely, had no defensive miscues after committing a total of 10 errors in their previous two contests.

Morgan Reese notched a double and a RBI to account for Marshall County's lone extra base hit of the night, while Aaron Medley and J.B. Reese both singled.

"I think we beat a good Shelbyville club tonight. When we lost to them in Shelbyville, we committed a bunch of errors so it looks like it evened out," said MCHS coach Steve Reese. "Thomason pitched a great game. He had good velocity on his fastball and was hitting his spots. His curveball was breaking well too."

Golden Eagle starting pitcher Kalen Thompson suffered the loss, yielding four unearned runs on three hits and two walks over five and one-third innings. Jackson McAnally registered two hits and a scored a run to pace Shelbyville at the plate, while David Pearson, Blair Dukes, and Parker Gunn each had one hit with Dukes driving in a run.

The Golden Eagles grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when McAnally scored on a sacrifice fly by Dukes after belting a leadoff double down the left field line and advancing to third on a Pearson sacrifice bunt.

Shelbyville left a man in scoring position in each of the next two frames, before Marshall County got on the board in the bottom of the fourth by pushing across two runs in the inning with the help of a leadoff single by Medley, a Golden Eagle throwing error, a McKnight RBI fielder's choice, and a RBI double by Morgan Reese.

In the top of the fifth, Shelbyville put runners on first and second with no outs thanks to a Parker Gunn single and a walk by Colton Gunn, but Thomason sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a fielder's choice to escape the inning unscathed.

The Golden Eagles missed another chance to tie the game in the sixth and stranded runners on the corners before Marshall County plated two runs in the bottom half of the frame on the strength of three Shelbyville errors, a J.B. Reese bunt single, and a walk by Ryan McDaniel to open up a 4-1 advantage.

Thomason then worked around a two-out single by McAnally in the top of the seventh to close out the Tiger victory.