THOMASVILLE — Thomas County Central wasn’t going down without a fight.

After Effingham County edged the Yellow Jackets 12-11 in the first game of Friday’s Class AAAA opening-round series, Central came out swinging in the second game, routing the Rebels 12-1 after a five-run first.

Central and Effingham County play at 11 a.m. today in the last game of the best-of-three series.

“We swung the bats fairly well today,” Central coach Chad Parkerson said. “The second game, we kind of bounced back a little bit, put it behind us and overcame a little adversity right there.”

The big day at the plate for Central (18-10) included the huge first inning against Rebels’ right-hander Dylan Scott. The Jackets laced five hits in the inning and took advantage of an Effingham County (16-11) error to plate five early runs — two scoring on bases-loaded walks.

Buoyed by the early onslaught, the Jackets kept piling on, scoring two runs in the second, single runs in the third and fourth, and three in the fifth.

Left fielder Taylor Payne led the Jackets’ surge, ripping four singles with an RBI and scoring twice. The junior added two hits and two RBIs in the first game.

Staked with the early lead, Central senior left-hander Brandon Bynum kept the Rebels off-balance, allowing just the single run in the fourth when Rebels’ first baseman Jonathan Rotureau singled to left to score Zach Dotson. Bynum struck out three, while allowing four hits and walking four.

“I was real proud of Brandon Bynum,” Parkerson said. “We had to have that and he stepped up big-time.”

Rotureau was the Rebels’ hero in the first game. Clinging to the 12-11 lead with two on and two outs, Rotureau dove back to the first-base bag to snare Nick Welch’s line drive to save Effingham County’s win. The senior added another run-saving catch in the first on a Payne line drive, and hammered a grand slam to stake the Rebels to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first.

“They made plays in the first game,” Parkerson said. “We put some good swings on it and hit some right at them.”