The Blue Tide baseball team began its season last week, balancing a loss on Tuesday with a win on Thursday.
On Tuesday the team traveled to Jesup and took on the Region 2-AAAA Yellow Jackets. Though Long County put up a good effort, they fell behind early and eventually lost 11-1 to Wayne County High School.
"David Shuman was our starting pitcher and he pitched really well, but three first-inning errors got us behind 6-0," Long County head coach Brian Thomas said. "Our leading hitters were (Richard) ‘Rat’ Johnson and Luke Golden, who were one for two."
"We played several freshmen and even though they made a few mistakes, they played well and gained valuable learning experience. As a team we played hard and fought to the end," the coach said.On Thursday the team played at home against Ware Magnet High School. A crowd of Ludowici fans endured cold weather, but got their money’s worth when the Blue Tide grounded the Eagles 15-0.
Golden was the winning pitcher. He allowed two hits in his first high school win.
The leading hitters for Long County were Bryan Wingate with two hits in three bats, Johnson, who went two for two , and Jake Durham who went one for three with three runs batted in.
"I was very happy to get the first win of the season, it always takes pressure off to get into that winning column," Thomas said.
He said, "I thought that Ware Magnet has some very talented players and I am sure that they will be much tougher at their home field next week."
On Friday, the Blue Tide hosted Bryan County, but results from the game were not available at press time.
The Redskins brought a 0-2 record into the match, having allowed 24 runs to be scored against them in their previous two games. Bryan County put up 11 runs. Going into Friday’s battle, the Blue Tide had allowed 11 runs and put up 16.
On Monday, the Tide head to Manor for a rematch with the Eagles at 5:30 p.m.
See Wednesday’s Courier for results from the Bryan County and Ware Magnet games.