The early 2017 season has been tough for the Long County High School baseball team, losing the first three games on the diamond, whether home or away.

On Feb. 13, the Blue Tide hosted Wayne County (2-1) in a big rivalry game.

Long County was no match for the Yellow Jackets, falling 16-0 in four innings.

Long County hung tough with Jesup for two scoreless innings, but an 11-run third inning for the Jackets sealed Ludowici’s fate.

Head coach Wade Peterson said that if his team is going to be successful, his players will have to play better in the future.

"It was tough being on our end, Andrew Swindell looked really good on the mound and held them at bay for 2 innings, and we also had several hits off of one of the best pitchers we will see this year," Peterson said. "But losing our number one (Tripp Stapleton) and number two (Britt Crews) pitchers for the season due to injury (who) were arguably our best bats, we are going to need everyone in the program to step it up for us."

He said Stapleton is out for the season with an elbow injury and Crews is out from a shoulder injury.

Friday, Long County faced Prince Avenue Christian (3-1) in Ludowici.

It looked good for the Blue Tide as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead early and held it into the fifth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Wolverines scored three runs which was enough to secure a 5-3 victory.

Saturday, Long County was at home again, this time taking on Metter High School (1-2). The game went back and forth with a 5-5 tie at the end of seven innings. The eighth inning went scoreless. In the top of the ninth, the Tigers scored again and that was enough to pull out a 6-5 win.

Tuesday, Long County hosted Claxton (1-0). Results for that game were not available by press time. Today, they host Charlton County (1-0). First pitch is slated for 5:55 p.m.