By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

SOSO — The second trip to Soso for Picayune in four days wasn’t nearly as successful as the first.

And that meant an end to the season for the Maroon Tide baseball team.

Picayune fell to home-standing West Jones 7-4 Monday night in the rubber match of the three game opening round Class 6A South State playoff series. The Mustangs move on to face George County in the next round later this week.

The Maroon Tide managed to come away with a 3-2 win Friday in game one of the match-up, but West Jones bounced back to take game two in Picayune on Saturday 4-0 and then seal the deal two days later.

“You hate to see the season come to an end,” Picayune head coach Evan Nichelson said. “The guys battled, just couldn’t get the timely hit when we needed it. It was a great year. These seniors led well and they’ll be tough to replace.”

On Monday night, West Jones scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth frame to overcome a slight 1-0 deficit and take a lead it would never relinquish.

Colt Robertson’s RBI-single in the fifth for Picayune cut the deficit to 3-2 briefly, but the home team countered with two more runs in the bottom of the frame and as well as two more in the sixth stanza to take a commanding 7-2 advantage and secure the win.

Parker Helton started and took the loss for Picayune.

Both Robertson and Brunson Stockstill had two hits apiece for the Maroon Tide, and Stockstill and Helton each had a double.

Picayune finished the season with a 20-11 record.