Picayune’s Jacob Taylor pitched, hit and ran Moss Point out of the Class 5A South State prep baseball playoffs Saturday.

The  Maroon Tide senior pitcher, a Pearl River Community College signee, hurled a four hit complete game as homestanding Picayune pulled out a 4-1 win in opening round Class 5A South State playoff action. Taylor also drove in a run and scored a run.

The win, coupled with Picayune’s 8-4 victory in game one Friday night, ended the best-of-three series and the Maroon Tide will move on to play at Pearl Thursday at 6 p.m.

The loss ends the Tigers’ season at 7-17.

“We just keep finding ways to win when we need to,” Picayune head coach Cayne Stockstill, whose team is 11-16, said. “I felt like we won the game on the basepaths tonight, and with our defense.”

The Tigers actually took a quick 1-0 lead in game two, as Thomas Nettles led off the game with a single and later scored when Bennie Currie hit into a double play.

That would be the only run Taylor would allow, however.

Currie  kept Picayune scoreless over the first three frames, but in the fourth Taylor was hit by a pitch to begin the stanza and later scored on Kyle Dillard’s grounder to first.

With the score tied at 1-1, and Taylor keeping Moss Point’s hitters at bay, the Maroon Tide took control in the  bottom of the fifth with three runs.

A Tiger throwing error, a balk by Currie and a wild pitch allowed one run to score while Nick Marble drove in a run with a sacrifice bunt. Mark Wood and Taylor smacked back-to-back doubles to make it 4-1.

In the sixth, Lige Mims doubled for Moss Point, and  attempted to score on Currie’s two out single to center. But Picayune’s Peyton Lee, who was the winning pitcher Friday night, nailed Mims at the plate to end the last threat for the Tigers.

Currie took the loss. Taylor moved to 6-2 with the win.

The win was the fourth straight for Picayune over Moss Point this season.

“We’ve battled all year, and the kids never gave up,” Moss Point head coach Marc Turner said. “I commend our seniors on making the playoffs their final season. We just didn’t play well enough to win against Picayune. We hit the ball well at times and our pitching was good at times. We just never put all three together.”