LUDOWICI — Long County High School’s baseball season ended April 30 with a 7-2 loss to McIntosh County.

The Tide needed a win to clinch the fourth spot in the 2-AA Region, which would have secured them a spot in the state tournament.

And the Tide started strong, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. But the Bucs scored four in the bottom of the inning. And they added three more late in the game, to get a solid defensive win.

The loss ended the Blue Tide’s hope to get back into the play-offs. Despite the loss, the team did have a respectable season, finishing with a 7-9 region record and 8-17 overall.

The winning pitcher was Aaron Turner and the losing pitcher was Bryan Wingate.

The Blue and White did have a rocky start, opening the season with a 2-12 record, but over the last 11 games they went 6-5, and had shots to make the post season.

The results in 2-AA were Appling County 14-2 (22-3), Pierce County 13-3 (18-7), Jeff Davis County 13-3 (16-10), McIntosh County 7-9 (10-14), Brantley County 7-9 (9-17), Long County 7-9 (8-17), Tattnall County 4-12 (7-18), Benedictine 4-12 (6-19) and Charlton County 3-13 (8-17).

Blue Tide coach Brian Thomas that he was proud of the team’s effort throughout the year and especially for never giving up.

"It was a really tough loss last night," he said. "I think that this was a great season, we really had a lot of great kids on this year’s team. I want to thank all of my senior baseball players for such a great job of leadership and commitment. I especially want to recognize Tyler Chambless, Stevie Harrison and Shane White for all of their hard work over the last four years."

Thomas said they, along with his other four seniors (Ricky Rivera, Brandon Murphy, Eric Hadley and Kaleb Gaitten) will be missed.

Though the team will be loose several quality players to graduation, the Blue Tide should be solid next year with at least seven seniors; Jake Durham, Richard "Rat" Johnson, Ryan Mellette, Trent Wells, Bryan Wingate, David Shuman and Tommy Freeman.

"Next year looks to be bright for us," Thomas said. "We are returning six starters and will return two starting pitchers with a large amount of varsity time logged. Summer baseball starts in a few weeks and we will get back to work."