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Blue Tide washes over Tigers on Diamond
baseball

The Long County Blue Tide baseball team (3-6) defeated the Bradwell Institute Tigers (3-5) Monday night 10-6.

The Tide used a five-run, two-out rally in the top of the seventh to pull away from their next-county rivals, even though they got things going at the plate early.

Tide senior Deondrae Volcy smacked a solo home run over the Bradwell left field wall for the early 1-0 lead. After the game, he said the hit was an adrenaline rush.

"I got really excited for my first varsity home run," Volcy said. "I’ve been slacking all season, but I came through and hit a dinger."

The Tigers, coming off a 15-0 loss to Charlton County Saturday, answered quickly in the bottom of the opening inning when Evan Crystal brought home Jordan Lambright to tie. Bradwell sat down five straight Tide batters, thanks in part of a diving save in left field by Brennan Long.

Bradwell took their first and only lead of the game (2-1) in the bottom of the fourth when Quindarius Watkins smacked an RBI double. This came after the Tide left the bases loaded, a problem head coach Wade Peterson addressed following the contest.

"We are doing some definite positives. We left way too many runners on base," Peterson said. "That’s been our downfall all year. We don’t strand as many runners here tonight, we probably could have ended this game a little earlier and possibly got out of here with a run. (I’m) thinking we should have probably scored about 15, 16 runs."

The Tide coach had a lot to cheer in the fifth inning when his team put four runs on the board thanks to a two-RBI single by Jeffrey Edmondson and a two-RBI double by Marquis Henley.

The Tigers answered again in the sixth, an inning highlighted by a two-RBI double by Lambright. The Tide left the bases loaded in that inning as well.

The seventh started grim for Long County as they suffered two outs, but they rallied six straight hits and scored five runs to open up a 10-5 lead. Joey Kuzlik scored on an error, while Volcy, Matt Strickland and Colton Infinger all recorded RBI singles and Andrew Swindell cracked an RBI double.

The Tigers couldn’t make up the difference in the final half inning.

Long County finished with season highs 16 hits and 10 runs. Peterson said his team can build off those positives.

"Ten runs is a good sign for us," he said. "We have been having trouble scoring, but that’s the highest output of the season. I really think if our arms stay healthy and they can continue to throw 80, 90 pitches in an outing, I think we can make some noise moving forward."

Infinger got the win in relief after 1 innings of work with a hit, one earned run and two strikeouts. Volcy starred at bat for the Tide, going 4-5 with two RBIs and the solo home run.

Long took the loss for the Tigers, giving seven hits and four earned runs in two innings. Lambright finished 3-5 at the plate with two RBIs.

The Tigers return to action March 14 in Darien against McIntosh County Academy. The Blue Tide hope to avenge an earlier loss to Bacon County today at home.

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