The Blue Tide’s Luke Golden threw a no-hitter Friday night and Long County High School blanked McIntosh County Academy, 10-0, in six innings.
Golden came out hot and shut down the Buccaneers early on the mound, but the sophomore also had his moments at the plate. He slammed a double in the bottom of the first inning to give the Blue Tide a 5-0 lead at the end of one.
In the third inning, with Shawn Mills at third base, senior Clint Kennedy put up a sacrifice fly to send Mills home and extend Long County’s lead to 6-0.
In the fifth inning, Mills grounded to center field but outran the throw to first.
With Jacob Turner at the plate, Mills stole second and went to third on an error. Turner struck out, and Kennedy hit another sacrifice to give the Tide a 7-0 lead.
Carlton Milton followed with a base hit and stole second on a wild pitch. He scored on a double by Chris Stock, who in turn scored on Jonathan Flynn’s hit down the third base line.
While Golden kept the Buccaneers shutdown offensively, the Tide added a run in the bottom of the sixth when he singled and advanced on a single from Chris Rogers.
With Rogers at first, Tony Fowler came in to run for Golden at second base. Mills walked to load the bases and Turner got a base hit, sending Fowler in for the score to end the game midway through the sixth inning.
Golden shined all night from the mound, posting the win, the shutout, and the no-hitter. He struck out eight batters while going 2 for 4 at the plate.
Flynn and Stock each went 2 for 4 with a double. McManus was 2 for 4, while Mills went 2 for 3.
Blue Tide head coach Brian Thomas had nothing but praise for his team after the game.
“An outstanding performance by the whole team,” Thomas said. “Luke (Golden) pitched great, Brandon (McManus) called a great game and the whole team played great defensively. You only get a no-hitter with a great team effort.”
The Tide improved to 4-8 overall and 1-5 in Region 2-AA. McIntosh County fell to 0-11 overall and 0-6 in the region. The Tide will be back on the road again Wednesday when Long County travels to take on Groves High (3-5) at 6 p.m.