The Long County Blue Tide baseball team is off to a hot start to the 2024 season. On Monday, Feb 19, they hosted the McIntosh County Academy Buccaneers and defeated their rival 14-3 in five innings to move to 4-0 on the year.
Prior to the game, the team celebrated head coach James Hobbs, who on Thursday last week notched his 100th career win with the Blue Tide, a 6-5 win over Pierce County.
Creighton Rogers was on the mound for the Tide and found himself in an early jam. He struck out the first batter but hit the next batter and allowed a hit on the third, setting up the Buccaneers with two on and one out.
He got out of the jam, forcing an out at second and getting a ground out for the third.
Jamison Thomas got on base with a double after a dropped pop fly in centerfield and Nick Sizemore moved him to third with a single.
The next three batters - Kenny Pickens, Landon Runyon, and Elijah Lester - all singled to score runs and put the Tide up 3-0. Peyton Batt walked to load the bases, but the Tide could not put any more runs up as the next two batters went down.
The Tide added to the lead in the bottom of the second. Shannon Filkins doubled and stole third. Thomas brought him home with a single of his own before Sizemore singled to bring home Thomas.
Pickens doubled and Runyon then drove in two more runs, his second and third RBIs of the game, to put the Tide up 7-0 as they batted through the order for the second time in the game.
After a passed ball provided the Bucs their first run of the game, a two-run shot to left field brought them to within 7-3.
In the home half of the third, Thomas tripled and Sizemore brought him home for his second RBI of the game to make the score 8-3.
Wyatt Huston took over on the mound in the fourth and struck out one and allowed just one baserunner. The Tide scored another run in the inning on a Rogers single.
The fifth inning proved to be catastrophic for the Bucs. Three straight walks loaded the bases for the Tide before Batt walked to score the 10th run. Rogers brought in a run on a sacrifice fly, his second of the game, and FIlkins got his team to 12 runs with a single.
Thomas came up to the plate with the winning run on third. He cracked a single into shallow right field as two scored to make the score 14-3 and bring the game to an end via the mercy rule.
With the win, the Tide are now 4-0 in the season, their best start since they opened the 2022 season 11-0. They traveled to Alma to take on Bacon County on Tuesday, Feb 20 and then to Reidsville to take on Tattnall County on Thursday, Feb 22.