Eagleville baseball seniors leave legacy with rare third straight TSSAA state championship

When Eagleville's baseball team lost in the 2021 Class A sectional at South Pittsburg, a player said "forget this" as the team was heading to their postgame huddle.

"Part of my speech was, 'No...don't forget it...it's a feeling you don't want again,'" said Eagleville coach Brandon Bassham.

Freshmen on that team didn't forget it. And they never felt that feeling again.

The Eagles finished off one of the most dominant three-year stretches in TSSAA baseball history on Friday, defeating University School of Johnson City 10-0 in six innings in the Class 1A state championship game at MTSU's Reese Smith Field.

That gives Eagleville (34-5) three consecutive state titles during a run that saw the Eagles go 106-12, including winning 32 consecutive postseason games. The 2024 team run-ruled its last seven TSSAA playoff opponents and outscored its four state tournament foes 54-4.

"It's special what we have here," said Eagleville senior, four-year starter and 2024 Mr. Baseball winner Brayden Baker, who went 3-for-4 with a triple and three runs Friday. "We created a dynasty here. I'm proud of this team. We've all been together so long and we love to win. We did it right in this game, just like we did all season."

Eagleville baseball seniors accomplished what few have

Only one team in TSSAA history has won more consecutive state championships than Eagleville, and that's the Farragut teams from 2008-11 which won four in a row.

Baker and fellow four-year starters Josh Jeffcoat and Brody McLemore laid the foundation to the championship streak and seniors Nathan Brown, Donovan Drew and Cason Lamb stepped in to help continue the run.

"It's something nobody needs to take for granted," said Jeffcoat, who tossed 5.2 shutout innings to earn the win, his second in a row in a state title game. "Just to win one is amazing. To win three is immaculate. Hardly anyone gets to experience this."

That legacy is something that may not have hit that group yet, but will down the line.

"I get it ... they have no clue right now," Bassham said. "It may be their 10-year reunion, might be 15 years. But at some point, one day, it's going to click, what they just did over the last three years. I'm just blessed to be part of it."

Eagleville left little to question the entire tournament, and the title game was no exception. The Eagles scored three runs in each the first and second innings to build a 6-0 lead.

Junior third baseman Brady Burns went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs while Brown went 1-for-3 with a double, three runs and an RBI. Jeffcoat and junior outfielder Marshall Spann each had two hits and an RBI.

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Burns, Spann and Maddox Bouldin will anchor next season's team that will be vying to tie Farragut for the most consecutive titles.

"I think we have pieces," Bassham said. "I like my junior class. I'd be really disappointed if we fell of the map. I'm not saying we're going to be standing here on Friday (of championship week) again, but I don't think we'll fall off the map either."

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: TSSAA baseball playoffs: Eagleville wins third straight state title