RALEIGH — Athens Drive slapped seven hits, put runners on base in six of the seven innings and plated five runs Thursday evening at Millbrook High School, but it wasn’t good enough. The Jaguars were unable to keep the Wildcats’ offense in check, falling 9-5 in the first round of the NCHSAA state baseball playoffs.

Athens’ failure to capitalize on its numerous opportunities was unwelcome déjà vu for coach Joey Bell.

“We hit the ball all day long,” he said. “We just couldn’t score runs when we needed to. You have to score runs to win. Everybody knows Athens Drive can hit the ball, but we’ve had games all year where we got 10 hits and scored four runs. You can’t do that and expect to beat good teams.”

The Jags struck the initial blow on a two-out, first inning home run by Ross Snotherly, but Millbrook, the Cap-7 conference champs, responded with two first-inning runs of its own and three more in the second to take a 5-1 lead.

Athens battled back with a run in the third and three more in the fifth to knot the game at five, but unfortunately for the Jags, the good fortune was short-lived.

The Wildcats used some timely hitting and took advantage of a couple of Athens defensive miscues to score four runs in the bottom of the fifth and essentially put the game away. Jags senior catcher Drew Woodall, a Charleston Southern signee, said making crucial mistakes was also a recurring detrimental theme this season.

“We played like this all year,” Woodall, who reached base three times, scored one run and drove in another, said. “Whenever you make errors it comes to back to bite you. It did (Thursday). And it has been the story of our year.”

Bell said it was simply a matter of not being sharp in all three phases of the game.

“Baseball is about hitting, pitching and defense,” he said. “We didn’t have them all (Thursday).”

Athens stranded a runner in each of the final two innings, but never mounted any serious threats.

With the loss, the Jags’ season comes to an end, but Woodall won’t look back on it with disappointment. Instead, he’ll remember it as a year with fantastic potential that didn’t quite get realized.

“We had a good year, but really it could have been a great year,” he said. “We couldn’t overcome some of our mistakes at times, but we played hard and played well. This is a tough way for it to end, but it was a good season.”

For Millbrook, the playoffs roll into the second round where it will face Garner, who bounced Middle Creek 6-4 Thursday night.