Thomas County Central’s baseball team took a road trip to McIntosh for the first round of the state playoffs and saw its season end with 2-1 and 8-3 losses on Friday night.

Central’s Keyton Smith, who had a mid-season surgery on his pancreas, was originally slated to miss the rest of the 2017 season. However, he was cleared to play early, and made his first start since March 30 in Game 1. He allowed a single run in the first inning, and was solid, pitching six total frames while striking out five.

After the Chiefs grabbed their 1-0 lead in the first, Central finally got on the board in the fifth, tying the game with a Nick Herndon single that scored Hunter Humphries. However, a solo home run from McIntosh’s Dane Kinamon put his team back ahead, and the Yellow Jackets were not able to counter again.

In Game 2, Central jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Herndon scored from third on a passed ball. McIntosh tied the game in the top of the fifth with a Kinamon double, but the Yellow Jackets’ Doug Smith hit a two-run home run in the bottom half to put the Jackets back up 3-1.

However, Central could not keep their two-run lead, as the Chiefs scored seven unanswered runs over the final two innings, ending the Yellow Jackets’ season.