The loss dropped East Jackson (2-11) to 1-7 in subregion play.
Eagle starter Robert McKay gave up seven runs over four innings, but East Jackson coach Matt Pruitt said this team could have helped McKay out a little more in the field.
"Robert McKay gave us a chance to win, just like he has all year,” Pruitt said. “He left a couple of balls up that they hit hard, but he pitched well overall. His line might not look great, but that had more to do with what we did defensively. We needed to make a few more plays behind him, plays that don't go in the book as errors but still have to be made."
McKay surrendered eight hits and three walks. Jake Grindle came on and pitched two shutout innings, surrendering one hit.
Elbert County scored two runs in the first inning, two in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth as it earned the series sweep.
At the plate for East Jackson, Austin Johnson was 3-for-4 with two singles and a double. He scored on Caleb Hardy's RBI single in the fourth inning. Brandon Brown reached three times via walks and scored twice. Alex Martin was 1-for-3 with a walk.
East Jackson stranded 10 runners. That included leaving the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings.
"We needed a couple hits in critical situations and didn't get them,” Pruitt said. “We left too many on to hope to beat a good team like Elbert. We kept them out of the big inning, but a team like that is going to get runs across, and you have to do the same when you get the chance if you want to give yourself a chance."
Still, there were positives for the Eagles the loss.
"We're seeing some better approaches at the plate for the most part,” Pruitt said. “We've cut our strikeouts per game in half from what they were early in the season. Some guys who were struggling at the plate are coming around, and we've cut down on the errors in the field. But we haven't had all nine guys doing all the things we need at the same time, and that's what it takes to beat the good teams."
