In a frustrating season of underachievement, the Brookhaven Panthers suffered a pair of heart-breaking losses to West Jones in the opening round of the MHSAA Class 5A state baseball playoffs. They lost 5-4 in extra innings Friday at West Jones and fell 6-5 Saturday on Moyer Field as the Mustangs swept the best-of-three series.

West Jones (13-11) advances to the next round and plays Pascagoula in a best-of-three series.

Ole Brook, coached by Randy Spring, finishes 12-17.

“This was a tough end to a tough season,” said Spring. “In both games, just a play here or a play there, and we would have probably got the wins.”

Spring said his Panthers gave a strong effort., “Our kids played extremely hard and left it all on the field. They were in a tough situation with a key player out for disciplinary reasons.”

Houston Case, a senior shortstop/pitcher who has signed with Hinds Community College, was forced to miss the playoffs and the last week of the regular season.

“It would have been pretty easy to roll over but our kids kept battling,” said Spring. “They played their hearts out but the breaks just went the other way.”

W. Jones 5, Brook 4

Joel Welch drove in Blake Shows with the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Panthers in a nail-biter.

Garrett Goodwin was the winning pitcher. In 2.2 innings of relief, Goodwin struck out 7 batters, walked 1 and allowed 1 hit.

Andrew Culver (6K, 4BB) started and went 7 innings for Brook. He gave up 4 runs, 3 of them earned.

Myles Tipton (0-1) absorbed the loss. He gave up 2 hits, 1 run, struck out 1 and walked 1.

The Panthers finished with 6 hits, led by Landon McCullough who homered in the top of the first. Peyton Clark had 2 hits. Genoa Sartin doubled. Reed Jones and Zach Smith singled.

Welch homered for West Jones. Wes McDonnieal and Timothy Jordan each had 2 hits.

W. Jones 6, Brook 5

The Panthers exploded for 5 runs in the bottom of the third inning to lead 5-2 Saturday before the Mustangs rallied. They scored 4 runs in the top of the fifth, sparked by McDonnieal’s 3 run homer.

Devin Stokely started, pitched 4.2 innings. He gave up 5 runs on 5 hits, fanning 5 batters and walking 2.

Goodwin won his second game of the series in relief. He allowed just 1 hit in 2.1 innings.

Reed Jones (0-4) went 4.2 innings and was charged with the loss. He struck out 1 batter, walked 3 and gave up 6 runs on 5 hits.

Seth Porter fanned 2 batters, walked 4 and allowed 3 hits in relief.

In the bottom of the seventh, Zach Smith reached on an error with 1 out. However, the next 2 batters flied out to end the game.

The Panthers finished with 6 hits. Sartin singled twice. Smith doubled. McCullough, Tipton and Clark singled.

The Mustangs, coached by Joey Ward, were powered by McDonnieal who homered, doubled and collected 4 RBI in the win. Shows doubled and singled.