THOMASVILLE – Thomas County Central will be headed into the 2025 baseball season looking to build on previous success with a new head coach. Coach Sy Jones, formerly of Coffee, will be at the helm of this iteration of Yellow Jacket baseball. Though he is a different coach with a different process, he explained that the on-field product will not look that different.

“I think that good baseball is good baseball,” Jones said. “It’s just the verbiage is sometimes different, the philosophies can be different even though on the field the product is a lot of the same. We are just going to try to maintain the success that the program has maintained the better part of the last decade.”

Jones and his team have not been able to participate in a full practice as the GHSA has not allowed practice until January 27. However, time in four-on-ones and the weight room has allowed Jones and his players to get to know each other and prepare for the season.

“We’ve been able to do a lot in the weight room this fall. The weight room does a great job of revealing kids’ work ethic and their character and their attention to detail.”

Jones’ goals for his first season with the Yellow Jackets include larger goals like championships and smaller ones like winning the opener. 

“The smallest goal that we have is to win the opener,” said Jones. “We have that up in our locker room every year. Win the opener is always one of our goals which gets the season kicked off on a good note.”

However, Jones mentioned more of an emphasis on how you achieve your goals rather than the goals themselves. Good fundamental defense and “an offensive strategy that spotlights the talents that we have up and down the line up” is what fans can expect from this year’s Yellow Jackets. 

Thomas County Central will open the 2025 season with one of the most anticipated game of the year. The Yellow Jackets will travel across town to take on the Thomasville Bulldogs on February 10. Though the two rivals have played pre-season scrimmages in recent years, Central and Thomasville have not met in the regular season since the 2017-2018 season.  The Bulldogs won that game 5-3. Last year’s pre-season scrimmage was packed, so a regular season game on opening day is sure to draw a raucous crowd.

Central will face Thomasville twice this season, once in the season opener of February 10 and again on February 18.