Post Photo by Chris Siers Freshman righty Stephen Bobo pitched six strong innings for the Eagles, striking out five, while giving up three runs on six hits.
Post Photo by Chris Siers William Bobo went 2-for-5, including the game-winning, RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
By CHRIS SIERS
csiers@bedfordcountypost.com
SHELBVYVILLE — The Forrest Rockets (2-3) rallied to tie Thursday night’s non-district matchup against Shelbyville Central (3-5) at six apiece in the seventh inning.
Although the Rockets claimed a convincing 9-1 win against the Eagles in their first meeting this season, William Bobo made sure there would be no sweep as he connected on the game-winning walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Eagles the 7-6 win over the Rockets.
For the first three innings, however, things looked pretty good for the Eagles.
Stephen Bobo got the start on the mound and pitched six innings, keeping Forrest scoreless through the first three frames.
Palmer Edwards drove in the first run of the game on a single to center field in the bottom of the second, scoring Nick Johnson.
While the Eagles grabbed the early lead, it was a four-run third inning that blew the game open in favor of the home team.
Carston Williams smacked a two RBI double to left and Johnson drove home a third run of the inning on a sac-fly to right.
Brody Lovvorn later singled to center field and plated a fourth run of the inning.
Leading 5-0, the Rockets got two runs back in the top of the fourth on a RBI single and an Eagle error.
Stephen Bobo helped his own cause with an RBI single of his own in the bottom of the fourth.
But the Eagles’ bats went quiet over the following three innings and the Rockets were able to chip into the Shelbyville lead with one in the top of the sixth, before the drama in the seventh.
Back-to-back one-out singles brought the Rockets within one run and an Eagle error allowed the tying run to cross the plate, forcing extra innings.
Although Shelbyville got singles from Williams and Johnson in the bottom of the second, Rocket relief pitcher Tyler Baxter struck out the final two Eagle batters in the eighth inning.
Another Shelbyville error put the winning run on base for Rockets, but relief pitcher William Bobo was able to get a pair of strikeouts before the Eagles picked off the Forrest runner at second.
In the bottom of the inning, Caden Duggin singled with one out and Stephen Bobo later drew a walk to put two on with two outs.
Duggin eventually moved to third on a wild pitch and William Bobo stepped to the plate and drove him home for the walk-off thriller on Thursday night.
In total, Shelbyville connected on 11 hits, with Johnson and Williams both collecting doubles.
On the mound, Stephen Bobo struck out five in six innings of work before William Bobo took over and pitched the final two innings.
William Bobo allowed three runs on two hits, but struck out four.
Neither pitcher gave up a walk.
The Eagles will travel to Lincoln County on Monday for the District 9-4A opener.
Forrest 000 201 30 — 6 9 2
Shelbyville 014 100 01 — 7 11 3
Shelbyville: Stephen Bobo 2-for-4, William Bobo 2-for-5, Carston Williams 2-for-4, Nick Johnson 2-for-3, Palmer Edwards 1-for-3, Brody Lovvorn 1-for-4, Caden Duggin 1-for-4.
WP: S. Bobo
LP: Baxter
