It was senior night versus Cornersville at Chapel Hill on Friday and it turned out to be almost perfect as Forrest senior Justin Gillespie came within one out of pitching a perfect game in a 12-0 five-inning, run-rule win over the Bulldogs.

“This group is special to me, I love these boys a lot,” Forrest coach Andy Burkett said. “After going through some of the stuff we went through last year (Covid-19) it was awesome to see them play a full season.”

“It has been a great season so far and we want to continue to build upon that, but is was awesome to get the opportunity to acknowledge them and honor them and make the entire night about them.”

Gillespie, who was also a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate for the Rockets, took it to the limit as he was one out away from retiring every Cornersville batter before surrendering a sharp base hit up the middle by Beau Schillig in the top of the fifth inning.

“I was really rooting for him, I really wanted him to get it, the entire team knew about it too and nobody was saying anything,” Burkett said. “It was awesome to see him go out and pitch like that, he has been one of those guys who has had to eat the bullet against some tough teams on the weekends, so to see him go out there and dominate the way he did, I’m extremely proud of him.”

Max Kirby also had a huge senior night as he went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, four RBIs, and one run scored.

Cornersville starting pitcher Aaron Gann had some tough luck as seven out of the 10 runs he allowed were unearned.

The Bulldogs committed three errors in the game with two coming in a six-run, bottom of the second inning for the Rockets.

Braden Bowyer was hit by a Gann pitch to lead off the fateful inning and Kain Moses walked.

Gann came up with a strikeout for the first out before Gillespie drew a base on balls to load the sacks for Camden Vaughn, who grounded a potential double play grounder to short, but an errant throw sent Bowyer to the plate to make it 1-0.

Cannon Cervantes also grounded a ball to short stop and it was booted, allowing two more runs to score.

Gann got a pop-up for out number two before hitting Brennan Mealer with a pitch and that was costly as Bryson Smith and Bowyer followed with back-to-back RBI singles to make it a 6-0 contest.

Gillespie struck out the side in order in the top of the third inning and the Rockets tacked on four more runs in the home half of the stanza with heavy damage being done on a Kirby two-run triple, a fielder’s choice RBI by Cervantes (batting left-handed), and an RBI single by Smith, who went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs in the contest.

The Bulldogs went down 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth inning and the Rockets added a pair of runs in the home half of the frame on a two-run, two-out double by Kirby off Cornersville reliever Peyton Cherry.

Gillespie came to the hill in search of perfection in the top of the fifth inning and got the first two outs on a pair of fly balls to Cervantes in center field before Schillig ripped a base hit up the middle.

A come backer to the mound finished off the shutout for Gillespie.

The Rockets open up District 12-AA Tournament play on Thursday when they host the Community Vikings for a first-round contest at Chapel Hill with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Rockets swept the home and away series this season versus the Vikings, winning 7-6 at Unionville and 10-0 at Chapel Hill.

“They played us to a tough series earlier in the regular season, they gave us everything we could handle, so I expect them to do the same,” Burkett said. “We are looking forward to that challenge and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing in the district tournament.”

The Marshall County Tigers travel to Murfreesboro Central in the other first round contest on Thursday before all remaining games move to Nolensville.

The winner of the Forrest/Community game plays the top-seeded Knights on Friday and will more than likely face Nolensville ace and Vanderbilt commit Ethan McElvain.

The big lefty has been dominate all season with a 5-0 record, tossing all complete games with four one-hitters and a no-hitter versus Giles County in his last start.

McElvain has struck out 72 batters (14.4 per game) and has walked just seven.

“Nolensville is the best team in the district with the best pitcher in the district, there is no secret about that, all you have to do is look at the numbers, they speak for themselves,” Burkett said. “I’m not looking ahead, but if we get the opportunity to run up against them I feel like we have a pretty solid game plan and a pretty solid strategy to be able to handle them and I look forward to the challenge and I know the boys look forward to the challenge to get the chance to dethrone them if we get that opportunity.”

The Knights have won three straight regular season district titles (not counting last year’s Covid-19 season cancellation) and beat the Rockets 9-2 in the district tournament title game in 2019 and also beat Forrest 8-2 in the Region 6-AA Tournament championship game.

Nolensville beat Greenbrier in the state sectional round and went 2-2 at the state tournament, losing 7-3 to eventual state champions Covington in the semifinals.

Forrest bounced back from both the district tournament and region tournament losses to the Knights as the Rockets made it all the way to the state tournament championship game where they also lost to Covington, 11-1.

District 12-AA Final Standings

Nolensville (18-10, 8-2)

Giles County (12-14, 6-4)

MCM (14-14, 6-4)

Forrest (17-10, 4-6)

Community (19-11, 3-7)

Marshall County (12-10, 3-7)

Cornersville 000 00-0 1 3

Forrest 064 2X-12 8 0

Cornersville: Beau Schillig 1-for-2.

Team LOB: 1

Fielding

E: Schillig 2, Wesley Pigg.

LP: Aaron Gann (3IP, 6H, 10R, 3ER, 4K, 4BB).

Relief: Peyton Cherry (1IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 1K, 1BB).

Forrest: Max Kirby 3-for-4, Bryson Smith 2-for-3, Justin Gillespie 2-for-2, Braden Bowyer 1-for-2.

BB: Camden Vaughn 2, Kain Moses 2, Justin Gillespie.

RS: Gillespie 3, Vaughn 2, Moses 2, Cannon Cervantes, Kirby, Brennan Mealer, Bowyer, Blake Burnham.

2B: Kirby, Smith.

3B: Kirby.

RBI: Kirby 4, Smith 2, Cervantes, Bowyer.

ROE: Cervantes, Vaughn, Burnham.

FC: Cervantes

HBP: Cervantes, Bowyer, Mealer.

Team LOB: 7

WP: Justin Gillespie (5IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 7K, 0BB).