The Long County Blue Tide baseball team went into its final regular season game knowing they needed a win to clinch a home series in the first round of the state playoffs. They fought hard, but the Calvary Day Cavaliers were just too much down the stretch as the Tide fell 10-6.

Nick Sizemore’s double to the left field wall brought in Gio Jackson with the first Tide run of the game, and Landon Runyon plated courtesy runner Steven Wyatt for a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the first inning.

Kenny Pickens struck out the first two Cavalier batters but a hit and a walk put two runners on, and a costly error scored two to tie the game.

The Cavs scored one more to take a 3-2 lead going into the second.

With runners on second and third, Jackson, now on in relief, was called for two consecutive balks, the first two of five called in the game. The balks gave the Cavs a 5-2 lead.

Ryder Dawson came up big again for the Tide in the third as he doubled down the left field line to score two runs to cut the lead to 5-4.

In the fourth, the Tide had two on and two outs before Pickens reached first on a throwing error at third. That error allowed Jackson to score to tie the game at 5-5 going into the bottom of the fourth as Dylan Lester took over on the mound.

The freshman and his defense allowed five hits and four runs as the Cavaliers went into the fifth inning leading 9-5. The score stood at 9-5 going into the bottom of the sixth where the Cavs added one more to increase their lead to five runs.

Dawson singled in the top of the seventh to make the score 10-6. Roderick Randall came up with two on and two outs, but the Tide could not plate any more runs as they fell 10-6.

With the loss, they finish the regular season 20-8 and 10-4 in the region. They will be the third seed in the state playoffs and will be on the road for the first round on Monday, April 24.