On Tuesday Liberty County High School traveled over to Ludowici to take on Long County High School in a big rivalry game. Though both baseball teams have struggled this year, this game was important because it was a 2-AAA Region contest and it also was for mid-season bragging rights. Both squads had their opportunities to win but when the final out was made the Panthers squeaked out a narrow 4-3 victory.
Aric Albertson got the win for the Panthers going the full seven innings. While on the mound he gave up 5 hits, 4 walks, and struck out 3 batters. For the year he has 4 wins, a 2.24 ERA, and has struck out 57 batters. For the Blue Tide Matt Strickland got the start and loss lasting three innings, while giving up 3 earned runs. Colton Infinger closed out the game for Long County not allowing any runs.
The leading batters for Liberty County were Dylan Stewart who went 2 for 2 with a triple, double, and 2 walks. Other notable players for the Panthers were Patrick Underwood who was walked twice, stole one base and scored 2 runs, Ronnie Keaton who was one for 4 with a single and one RBI, and Jacob Albertson who also had one RBI. The leading batters for the Blue Tide were Infinger who went 3 for 4 with a double, 2 singles and one RBI, and Andrew Swindell who was 2 for 4 with 2 singles. Gary Poppell generated one of the Long County’s runs by stealing home.
Liberty County head coach Josh Davis praised both teams’ pitching and said his team making fewer mistakes was the difference in winning and losing.
“We are a very similar team with athletic kids, their pitchers kept us in check all night and were very good. Our Pitcher, Aric Albertson also pitched very well, the difference for us was that we did not make many mistakes, we rolled several double plays when they had bases loaded with one out, we played really well in the field, and made some great defensive stops”, said Davis.
Long County head coach Wade Peterson said his team once again struggled to score runs and leaving too many runners on base was the difference in the game
With the win Liberty County improved their record to 4-11 overall and 1-1 in the region, while Long County dropped to 3-11 overall and 0-2 in the region.
On Friday Long County faced Brantley County (6-4) in Nahunta, and Liberty County took on Appling County (9-6) in Hinesville. Results for those games were not available in time for this story.
On Tuesday both teams have more region action with the Panthers hosting Pierce County (12-5) in Hinesville, and the Blue Tide facing Appling County in Baxley. Both games kick off at 6:00 PM.